Politics

  Astana / AFP A court in Kazakhstan on Monday convicted two men of sowing unrest around a controversial land reform and sentenced each to five years in jail. Max Bokaev and Talgat Ayan were both arrested in April as protests against proposed land code amendments rippled across the vast Central Asian country, threatening the 27-year rule of strongman President Nursultan ...

  Beijing / AFP China has lodged a diplomatic protest with Singapore after a shipment of Singaporean military armoured vehicles being brought back from Taiwan was seized in Hong Kong, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday. Beijing stated its opposition to “any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation”, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, ...

  Berlin / AFP Francois Fillon, frontrunner to become France’s next president, has sparked unease in Germany with his friendly attitude toward Russia, which could make him an uncomfortable ally for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Fillon secured the nomination of the French conservative Republicans on Sunday with a resounding victory over his more moderate challenger Alain Juppe. Opinion polls currently predict that ...

  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 ...