Politics

  Beirut / AFP Syrian government forces on Sunday kept up their blistering assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo after a divided UN Security Council failed to agree on a truce to “save” the war-battered city. Regime forces and their allies were advancing street by street in the eastern sector which has been out of government hands since 2012. “Clashes on ...

  AFP The number of war-displaced civilians in Kunduz has more than doubled to 24,000, the UN said on Sunday, as street battles persisted a week after the Taliban stormed into the northern Afghan city. Terrified residents facing a growing humanitarian crisis have been fleeing explosions and gunfights to neighbouring provinces of Balkh, Takhar, Baghlan and the capital Kabul. “Initial ...

  Berlin / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday left for Mali, the first stop on a three-day Africa tour focused on security and stemming the migrant influx to Europe. Merkel later heads to Niger and then Ethiopia where she is to visit the African Union headquarters in the capital Addis Ababa. Her talks with leaders of all three ...

  Ankara / AFP Eighteen people were killed on Sunday when a van packed with five tonnes of explosives blew up in Turkey’s restive southeast in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants, the prime minister said. The bombing, which killed 10 soldiers and eight civilians, was one of the single deadliest attacks on the Turkish security forces since the attempted ...

  Seoul / AFP Analysis published on Sunday of recent satellite images fuelled concerns that North Korea may be on the brink of another nuclear test or long-range rocket launch. Speculation that Pyongyang is preparing such a show of force has been linked to Monday’s anniversary of the founding of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. Past nuclear tests and missile ...

  Aleppo / AFP The Syrian regime pressed its assault on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Saturday ahead of a showdown at the United Nations between Western governments and its ally Russia. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that the mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow over the conflict had created a situation “more dangerous” than the Cold War. US ...

  Dhaka / AFP Bangladeshi forces on Saturday killed 11 suspected extremists including the new leader of a banned group behind a Dhaka cafe massacre, a minister said. “Eleven extremists were killed. They are all members of the new JMB (Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh),” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, referring to the outlawed group that killed 22 mostly foreign hostages at ...

  Ankara / AFP Two people suspected of planning a car bomb attack on the Turkish capital Ankara on Saturday blew themselves up after being confronted by police, averting what the justice minister called a “huge disaster”. The suspects, who both died in the explosion, were believed to be preparing an attack when they set off the explosives, the official ...

  DUBAI / Reuters A top general in forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government has been killed in fighting with Iran-aligned Houthi troops east of the capital Sanaa, sources on both sides of the conflict said. Major-General Abdel-Rab al-Shadadi, commander of Yemen’s Third Military Region — which has its headquarters in the city of Marib east of ...

  Beirut / AFP Before war broke out they were bakers, decorators or students. Now Syria’s volunteer rescuers known as the White Helmets risk their lives trying to pull victims from the rubble. Footage of the daring, often heart-rending rescues carried out by the group’s nearly 3,000 volunteers has frequently gone viral, earning it plaudits around the world. Images of ...