Politics

  Paris /AFP Donald Trump’s election looms large over the race for president of America’s oldest ally France, where mainstream candidates all style themselves as uniquely qualified to prevent a similar upset by the far right. On Thursday evening, right-wing candidates was expected to take part in the last of three debates ahead of the first round on Sunday of ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia’s state communications watchdog said on Thursday it had ordered internet providers to block the LinkedIn professional networking site after a court ruled it was breaching a law on storing users’ data. “The social networking site LinkedIn has been added to a register of violators… and submitted for blocking by internet operators,” the Roskomnadzor watchdog said ...

  Aleppo / AFP Syrian government and Russian warplanes pounded rebel-held parts of northern Syria on Wednesday, including battered second city Aleppo, where food aid rations were all-but-exhausted after months of regime siege. The renewed bombardment has killed at least 20 people, including nine children, in Aleppo alone in the last 24 hours, and sparked anger from the United States and ...

  Islamabad / AFP Pakistan has ordered the deportation of 130 teachers affiliated with the alleged mastermind of an attempted coup in Turkey, officials said on Wednesday, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to arrive for a visit. The teachers from the private PakTurk International Schools and Colleges, backed by US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet group, will have ...

  Islamabad / AFP Pakistan’s top foreign affairs official has said he plans to visit India next month for a regional conference, the first high-profile visit since tensions spiralled between the arch-rivals after a deadly attack on an Indian army base. Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif and de facto foreign minister, said he will attend the Heart ...

  Beirut / AFP Internet cafes closed down, travel bans and new checkpoints: residents say extremists are trying to tighten their grip on power in Raqa as US-backed forces near the IS group’s Syrian bastion. A Kurdish-Arab alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began an operation to recapture the northern city on November 5. Since then, residents say IS ...

  Kabul / AFP A suicide bomber on foot struck a government vehicle in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least six people and wounding 10 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the IS group. The latest bombing to hit the Afghan capital came during the morning rush hour, as militants intensify nationwide attacks on the Western-backed government. “A suicide ...

  Jerusalem / AFP The Israeli parliament gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill to legalise thousands of West Bank settler homes, a measure drawing international anger and posing the government’s biggest test since 2015 polls. The measure, which would apply to an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Jewish homes in the occupied West Bank, requires three more full parliamentary ...

  Marrakesh / AFP Morocco is to host an African summit later on Wednesday as the kingdom presses a bid to rejoin the continental bloc 32 years after walking out in protest at its position on the Western Sahara. Some 30 leaders are due to take part, including those of English-speaking states like Kenya and Nigeria as well as Morocco’s ...

Athens/ AFP Globalisation has brought many economic benefits to the world but needs a “course correction” to address growing inequality, US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday on his European farewell tour. Obama spoke during a visit originally planned as a valedictory lap, but which has become focused on reassuring jittery allies after the shock election victory by Donald Trump, a ...