Politics

  Aleppo / AFP The Syrian army captured a major district of Aleppo on Monday from rebel fighters, now confined to a small pocket of their former bastion in the city’s east. President Bashar al-Assad’s forces held more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold, a monitor said, and appeared on the verge of retaking the whole city. The fall ...

  Dubai / AFP Bahrain’s appeals court on Monday upheld a nine-year jail sentence against opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman, a judicial source said. The sentence against Salman, for inciting hatred and calling for regime change by force, had been overturned by the court of cassation in October. Salman, 51, is considered a moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy ...

  Khartoumi / AFP Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir vowed on Monday to brutally crush anti-regime protests, warning the authorities will crack down on demonstrators as they did in 2013 when dozens were killed during clashes. Bashir’s warning came as opposition activists issued a new call to hold a two-day nationwide strike next week against a government decision to cut fuel subsidies ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey arrested nearly 200 officials from a pro-Kurdish party and struck Kurdish militants in Iraq on Monday in response to this weekend’s twin bombings claimed by a radical Kurd separatist group. The toll from Saturday’s attacks, which struck an Istanbul football stadium and a nearby park, rose to 44 on Monday, Health Minister Recep Akdag said. Turkish ...

  Cairo / AFP Grief-stricken mourners gathered in Cairo on Monday for the funeral of 24 people killed when a blast tore through a Coptic church, in the deadliest attack on Egypt’s Christian minority. Wooden coffins, each bearing a cross, were covered with the Egyptian flag and lined up at the Saint Mary and Saint Athanasuis Coptic Orthodox Church in Nasr ...

  Nairobi / AFP The death toll from a fireball caused by a crash involving a tanker carrying flammable materials rose to 40 Monday, as Kenya faced calls to improve safety on its perilous roads. The east African nation was left reeling by devastating scenes from the crash late Saturday in which the tanker ploughed into 11 vehicles, leaving a trail ...

  Beijing / AFP Beijing issued its first clear warning on Monday over Donald Trump’s fiery rhetoric, as state media said the Asian giant could back “forces hostile to the US” if the president-elect follows through with threats to drop Washington’s One China policy. It was the strongest signal yet from Chinese authorities that abandoning the One China policy, which ...

  New York / AFP Donald Trump announced on Monday he will nominate retired general John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, the third ex-military man tapped for a top job in his presidential administration. “General John Kelly’s decades of military service and deep commitment to fighting the threat of terrorism inside our borders makes him the ideal choice ...

  Nairobi / AFP Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Monday his country was seriously thinking of quitting the International Criminal Court, after several other African nations moved to pull out of the tribunal. Kenyatta and his Vice President William Ruto were dragged before the court after deadly 2007-08 election violence left over 1,200 dead. However the charges were dropped in ...

  Brussels / AFP The European Union and Cuba on Monday signed a deal to normalise ties that had been blocked for decades by human rights concerns under revolutionary icon Fidel Castro. Cuba was the only Latin American country not to have a “dialogue and cooperation” deal with the 28-nation EU covering issues such as trade, human rights and migration. But ...