Politics

  ISLAMABAD / AP Pakistan deployed extra police forces and paramilitary units on Tuesday in the country’s capital to boost security ahead of a regional summit on economic cooperation, officials said. Islamabad is to host representatives from 10 countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization on Wednesday to finalize a plan on expanding the region’s trade and prosperity. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ...

  NEW YORK / AP When White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer wanted to crack down on leaks last week, he collected his aides’ cell phones to check for communication with reporters. The crackdown quickly leaked. President Donald Trump now says he probably would have handled the situation differently, meeting with staff one-on-one instead — but perhaps still demanding to look ...

  KUALA LUMPUR / AP A high-level North Korean delegation arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday seeking the body of leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother, the victim of a nerve-agent attack that many suspect the North itself of orchestrating. The body of Kim Jong Nam, killed Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport, is at the center of a heated diplomatic ...

  TAIPEI / AP Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday the island’s democracy is mature enough to handle a thorough investigation into a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters 70 years ago, an event seen as a rallying point by those who reject China’s claim to the self-governing island. Tsai, speaking at a gathering in Taipei, pledged to take a “rigorous ...

  WASHINGTON / AP A new military strategy to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to “obliterate” the IS group is likely to deepen US military involvement in Syria, possibly with more ground troops, even as the current US approach in Iraq appears to be working and will require fewer changes. Details are sketchy. But recommendations due at the White House ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi federal police units pushed deeper into western Mosul on Monday, gaining control of a neighborhood along the Tigris River and the foot of one of the city’s five bridges amid intense clashes with IS militants, a senior Iraqi police commander said. According to Maj. Gen Thamir al-Hussaini, who commands the federal rapid response force, the ...

  DUBAI / AP Authorities in Bahrain say five police officers have been wounded in a bomb attack that targeted a bus in the island nation. An Interior Ministry statement says two of those wounded have since been discharged from the hospital while the three others are in stable condition. The attack on Sunday came ahead of a court hearing ...

  MOSCOW/ AP Moscow municipal workers have demolished the impromptu memorial to Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on the day he was killed two years ago. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was shot dead late on Feb. 27, 2015, just outside the Kremlin wall in an apparent contract killing. Thousands of mourners marched across Moscow on Sunday and brought ...

  BRUSSELS / AP The European Union is boosting its sanctions against North Korea in line with a U.N. Security Council Resolution following another nuclear test in September last year. The EU member states said in a statement on Monday they will restrict trade in coal and iron and ban imports of several other metals. The EU also imposed a ...

  PARIS / AP The two main left-leaning candidates in France’s presidential election won’t join forces after all. Socialist Benoit Hamon and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former member of the Socialist Party who is supported by the Communists, both announced over the weekend that they are staying in the race, putting the Left at risk of disappearing after the ...