Politics

  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 ...

  Aleppo /AFP Hundreds of civilians have fled rebel-held east Aleppo after government forces, determined to retake all of Syria’s second city, seized its largest opposition-controlled district. The capture on Saturday of Masaken Hanano—which had been the biggest rebel-held district of Aleppo—was a major breakthrough in a 13-day regime offensive to retake the entire city. The fighting moved to two ...

  Istanbul / AP Twenty-two pro-Ankara Syrian rebels were hit by an IS gas attack in northern Syria, the Turkish army said Sunday, the first time Turkey has accused the extremists of chemical warfare. Observers, including the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), have previously accused IS of using mustard gas in Syria and described the possibility as extremely ...

  Muscat / AP The UN envoy for Yemen announced a new bid for peace talks between the government and rebels, after the latest ceasefire failed to bring an end the 20-month conflict. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he was heading to Riyadh and Kuwait “to prepare for a new round” of talks, as he left Muscat late Saturday after discussions ...

  Kuwait City / AFP Opposition groups and their allies secured nearly half of the Kuwaiti parliament’s seats, official election results showed on Sunday, raising fears of fresh political wrangling in the oil-rich Gulf state. The opposition and its allies won 24 of the assembly’s 50 seats, the electoral authority announced following Saturday’s snap election called after a dispute over the ...

  New Delhi /AFP At least 10 armed men disguised as policemen attacked a high security prison on Sunday and freed a top Sikh militant commander and four others in India’s Punjab state, officials said. The attackers travelled in cars and stormed Nabha Jail after stabbing a guard at the main gate and firing rounds of live ammunition before fleeing ...

  KAMPALA / AP Scores of people have been killed in fighting between Ugandan forces and a tribal militia in a remote district near the border with Congo, Ugandan officials said on Sunday as security forces battled armed men protecting a tribal king who is accused of leading the rebels. At least 54 people, including 41 rebels and 13 police officers, ...

  Goma /AFP At least 34 civilians were killed on Sunday in a flare up of ethnic violence in restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said, following a week of soaring tensions. “The provisional toll is 34 civilians killed,” said local official Joy Bokele, referring to an attack by a Nande ethnicity militia on the Hutu village of Luhanga. ...