Politics

  Nicosia / AFP UN envoy Eden Barth Eide held separate talks with rival Cypriot leaders on Monday to try to revive peace negotiations after “very high hopes” of a breakthrough were dashed last week. “What we are working on is to see how we can re-establish the momentum we had, but this has to be a decision made by ...

  London / AFP Britain’s anti-EU party UKIP elected former history lecturer Paul Nuttall as its new leader on Monday to take over from Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage, a political ally of US President-elect Donald Trump. Nuttall promised to unite the party — a driving force behind Britain’s vote to leave the EU—which has been under threat from bitter infighting and ...

  London / AFP Poland’s prime minister called on Monday for a Brexit “compromise” and said Europeans in Britain and Britons in Europe should not be “made to feel like hostages” as she kicked off a landmark trip to London. Britain’s shock vote in June to leave the European Union sparked fear among the 800,000 Poles living in Britain, particularly ...

  Aleppo /AFP Syria’s rebels lost all the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in east Aleppo on Monday, as the army made significant advances in its offensive to recapture the entire city. The regime’s gains have prompted an exodus of desperate civilians, most fleeing to districts held by the government or Kurdish forces, others heading south into areas still under ...

  Tel aviv / AFP Israel’s air force targeted gunman linked to the IS group in Syria overnight, the army said on Monday, after they fired on an Israeli soldier in the occupied Golan Heights. “Overnight the (Israeli air force) targeted an abandoned UN building that has been used by the IS as an operations centre along the border in the ...

  Ankara / AP The UN’s expert on torture was on Monday beginning a week-long visit to Turkey following claims prisoners have been ill-treated in the wake of the July failed coup. Nils Melzer, special rapporteur on torture, arrived in Turkey on Sunday and will speak with alleged victims and inspect detention facilities, the United Nations in Ankara said. His visit, ...

  Bartalla / AFP An Iraqi officer shuffled through identity cards as he sat at a battered desk by the side of the dust-blown highway heading east from the city of Mosul. Six men in dirt-spattered tracksuits huddled nearby, waiting on a concrete slab, part of the latest convoy of civilians to flee fighting as government forces try to oust IS ...

  Imamnazar /AFP Asian neighbours Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Monday opened the first section of a $2 billion link connecting their two countries by rail for the first time and set to extend to Tajikistan. Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani attended the colourful celebrations featuring Turkmen traditional dancers. A train pulling 46 freight cars completed ...

  Kolkata / AP Tens of thousands of people turned out on Monday for nationwide protests against India’s controversial ban on high-value banknotes, which opposition party organisers say has caused a “financial emergency”. India is still reeling from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock decision nearly three weeks ago to pull 86 percent of the currency from circulation overnight, triggering a chronic ...

  Dhaka /AFP Multiple boats packed with Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar were turned back by Bangladesh border guards on Monday, despite appeals by the country’s opposition to provide shelter to the persecuted Muslim minority. Thousands of desperate Rohingya from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state have flooded over the border into Bangladesh in the last week, bringing with them horrifying ...