Politics

  MOSCOW / AP The Kremlin refrained from comment Tuesday on the appointment of the new U.S. national security adviser, but one lawmaker said he was likely to take a hawkish stance toward Russia. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was named to the job Monday by President Donald Trump to replace retired Gen. Michael Flynn. Trump fired Flynn last week ...

  PESHAWAR / AP A group of suicide bombers with grenades and assault rifles struck outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing six people in an attack claimed by a Taliban splinter group. The attack was the latest in a wave of militant assaults across the troubled country that has killed over 100 people since last week. The ...

  BEIRUT / AP A top adviser to the United Nations envoy for Syria said on Tuesday that their “main guidance” for the first intra-Syrian peace talks in 10 months will be a Security Council resolution that calls for political transition. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is putting the “finishing touches on arrangements” for Thursday’s start of talks in Geneva ...

  DUBAI / AP Bahraini lawmakers voted Tuesday to change the constitution to allow civilians to be tried in military courts, further empowering its security forces amid a crackdown on dissent at level unseen since its 2011 Arab Spring protests. The decision by the 40-seat Council of Representatives, the elected lower house of the tiny Gulf nation’s National Assembly, comes ...

  NGHIA BINH / AP The family of a Vietnamese woman arrested in the death of the half brother of North Korea’s ruler in Malaysia has confirmed she is their relative, but believes she didn’t knowingly participate in the killing. Kim Jong Nam died last week after apparently being poisoned in Kuala Lumpur’s airport. Speaking at their home in a ...

  JOHANNESBURG / AP The United Nations children’s agency is warning that almost 1.4 million children are at “imminent risk of death” as famine threatens parts of South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. The UNICEF announcement comes a day after famine was declared in parts of Unity state in South Sudan, where civil war has raged since late 2013 and ...

  CAIRO / AP At least 74 bodies of African migrants have washed ashore in western Libya, the Libyan Red Crescent said on Tuesday, the latest tragedy at sea along a perilous trafficking route to Europe. The bodies were found near the western Libyan city of Zawiya on Monday, Red Crescent spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati told The Associated Press, adding that ...

  BAGHDAD / AP US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday the United States does not intend to seize Iraqi oil, shifting away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rattled Iraq’s leaders. Mattis’ arrived on an unannounced visit in Iraq as the battle to oust IS militants from western Mosul moved into its second day, ...

  SINGAPORE / AP Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, hosting a visit by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Monday his country believes in a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lee explained his stand at a joint news briefing with Netanyahu, who does not endorse the two-nation approach. Lee said he realizes a two-state solution is difficult ...

  MOSCOW / AP The Kremlin says its decision to recognize passports and other documents issued by separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine is a response to Ukraine’s blockade of rebel regions. The weekend’s move by Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn sharp criticism from Ukraine, which called it a violation of a two-year-old peace deal. Ukrainian forces have been fighting ...