Politics

  BEIRUT / AP Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published on Monday that he was prepared “to negotiate everything” at talks set to begin in later this month in Kazakhstan, seeking to cast himself as a peacemaker after his forces’ recapture of Aleppo last month. However the upcoming talks, brokered by Ankara and Moscow, are still in doubt ...

  SINGAPORE / AP Singapore’s defense minister said on Monday that nine armored personnel carriers that are being held in Hong Kong should be returned immediately under sovereign immunity laws. Customs authorities in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, seized the eight-wheeled Terrex infantry carriers in November. The vehicles were being shipped back to Singapore following military training exercises in Taiwan. ...

  ISLAMABAD / AP Two Pakistani research groups have noted that the country saw a significant drop in militant violence last year, crediting the military for the decrease in attacks. The two Islamabad-based groups say that large-scale military operations in the lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, in the chaotic port city of Karachi and the sparsely populated Baluchistan province are ...

  Bloomberg Facing calls to strike back at Russia for what US intelligence agencies have termed Moscow’s interference with the 2016 US presidential election campaign, Donald Trump instead suggested warmer relations between the two countries. The president-elect took to Twitter on Saturday to discuss the potential US-Russia relationship under his administration, a day after US spy chiefs briefed him on ...

  KABUL / AP Approximately 300 United States Marines will be deployed to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces in the southern province of Helmand. A Resolute Support Mission spokesman, US Navy Capt. Bill Salvin in Afghanistan, said on Sunday that the deployment will take place in the spring. Salvin said in a statement that the marines are scheduled to ...

  JERUSALEM / AP A truck rammed into a group of Israeli soldiers who were disembarking from a bus in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four people and wounding 15 others, Israeli police and rescue services said. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the truck veered off course and rammed into the group. She said the attacker was shot dead. The attack ...

  BELGRADE, / AP Blizzards and dangerously low temperatures have left villages cut off and caused power outages as extremely cold weather continues for fourth day in most of Eastern Europe. Dozens of villages in the remote Pestar region of Serbia were sealed off Sunday by heavy snow, prompting the evacuation of some 100 people by emergency crews. Numerous villages ...

  BAGHDAD / AP A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car on Sunday in a bustling commercial area in the Iraqi capital, killing at least six civilians and wounding 10 others, an official said, the latest in a recent bout of violence claimed by the IS group. Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said a member of the security ...

  Bloomberg UK. Prime Minister Theresa May said she will unveil details of her plan to negotiate Britain’s departure from the European Union in the coming weeks after pressure has mounted for her to show the government isn’t “muddled” in its planning. May said no plan for Brexit was drawn up by her predecessor David Cameron and she needed to ...

  BEIJING / AP Officials in Beijing have announced a new environmental police squad to root out illegal burning in the city, the latest government response to the widespread public anger over China’s persistent problems with smog. Beijing’s acting mayor, Cai Qi, said at a meeting that the force would target open-air barbecues, garbage incineration and the burning of wood and ...