Politics

  YANGON/ AP A commission chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the government allow aid workers and journalists free access to an area in western Myanmar where security forces are accused of major human rights abuses against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Annan spoke on Thursday in a video shown at a news conference in Yangon, where ...

  JERUSALEM / AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to keep his promise to build Israel’s first new West Bank settlement in two decades — even as Netanyahu and President Trump’s envoy continue discussions on future settlement building. Netanyahu will meet with Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt on Thursday as part of efforts to reach an “agreed-upon policy” on ...

  LONDON / AP A bill authorizing Britain to start its exit from the European Union received royal assent and became law on Thursday, empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to begin divorce proceedings from the bloc. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow announced that the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act has received the assent of Queen Elizabeth II. The ...

  GREENBELT / AP President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban has suffered another federal court setback after a judge in Maryland rejected a revised measure that bans travel targeting six predominantly Muslim countries. Judge Theodore Chuang ruled on Thursday in a case brought near the nation’s capital by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups representing immigrants, refugees and ...

  MANILA / AP Australia urged Southeast Asian nations and China to conclude a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea as soon as possible, voicing concern on Thursday about the scale of reclamation and construction by China in the disputed territory. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, speaking in Manila, urged the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian ...

  TAIPEI / AP Taiwan is planning to upgrade its F-16 fighter jets and will seek cutting-edge stealth aircraft from the United States in the face of a growing military threat from rival China, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday. The announcement follows the release of this year’s $11.4 billion defense budget, an increase of less than 1 percent from ...

  DAMASCUS / AP A suicide bomber detonated his explosives’ vest inside the main judicial building in the Syrian capital on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding many others, state media said. The official news agency, SANA, said another suicide explosion struck a restaurant in Rabweh district of Damascus, leading to an identified number of casualties. The bombing ...

  BRUSSELS / AP European Council President Donald Tusk warned Britain on Wednesday that leaving the EU without any formal agreement would harm the UK most. With Britain set in coming days to launch two years of negotiations preparing its departure, Tusk responded to “threats” from across the English Channel that it might be best to walk away without a ...

  BERLIN / AP Three men and a woman were sentenced to prison terms between three and five years on Wednesday for forming a far-right terrorist group in Germany with a plan to bomb refugee homes. The Munich state court ruled that the four founded the so-called Oldschool Society in August 2014. The group grew to have about 30 members ...

  MOGADISHU / AP Britain’s foreign secretary made a surprise visit to Somalia on Wednesday for talks with the country’s new president as a worsening drought threatens millions of people in the Horn of Africa nation. “It is all so, such a shame that you are facing the problems that you are facing, particularly of course the drought and the ...