Politics

  Malé / AFP The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically-elected leader four years ago. The troubled honeymoon island nation said it had been treated “unjustly and unfairly” by the bloc, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former ...

Moscow / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscow’s most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said on Thursday. “An agreement on the delivery of S-400 ‘Triumph’ anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks,” Russian news agencies ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey said on Wednesday it fears the world will be plunged into a global conflict with superpowers Russia and the US on opposing sides if the proxy war in Syria continues. “If this proxy war continues, after this, let me be clear, America and Russia will come to a point of war,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan ...

  Riyadh / AP Saudi Arabia announced an easing of its 18-month air blockade of rebel-held areas of neighbouring Yemen on Wednesday to allow the evacuation of hundreds of wounded from a deadly weekend air strike. More than 140 people were killed in Saturday’s raid on the wake for the father of a rebel leader in the Yemeni capital Sanaa ...

  ColombO / AFP Sri Lanka’s president on Wednesday accused top anti-corruption officials of launching politically motivated prosecutions against former military leaders, putting himself on a collision course with his own unity government. Maithripala Sirisena took the unusual step of publicly condemning criminal charges brought last month against three retired admirals and the former defence secretary, the brother of his ...

  Mazar-i-Sharif / AP At least 14 Shiites were killed on Wednesday in a bombing at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura. “The explosion happened at the gate of the Shiite mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province),” said provincial governor’s ...

  Karbala / AFP Huge crowds of black-clad Shiite Muslim pilgrims thronged the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on Wednesday, weeping and beating their chests in mourning for the seventh-century killing of the prophet’s grandson. Shiites around the world mark Ashura, but attacks on those commemorating bloodshed 1,300 years ago often result in more mourning and loss, including in Afghanistan, ...

  Geneva / AFP The UN’s rights chief warned on Wednesday that Donald Trump’s statements pointed to a “dangerous” figure emerging on the world stage if he won the US presidency. At a press conference in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he was “not keen or intent on interfering in any political campaign.” ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Tensions between Turkey and Iraq continued to escalate on Wednesday as Iraq’s prime minister rejected Turkish claims that their forces must be included in an operation to retake the militant-held city of Mosul. “We will liberate our land through the determination of our men and not by video calls,” Haider Al Abadi said on his Twitter account, ...

  Bloomberg IS has dug trenches and rigged roads and buildings with explosives ahead of a US-led coalition offensive to dislodge the militants from their stronghold in Mosul in northern Iraq. “We’re certainly well aware that this is going to be a difficult challenge, a difficult operation,” U.S. Defense Department spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said. He also said that IS ...