Politics

  Berlin / AFP Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Bavarian allies have called for tougher immigration rules in Germany that favour migrants from Europe’s “Christian-occidental cultural sphere”, according to a party paper seen by AFP on Thursday. The CSU party also has demanded a ban on the Muslim full-face and partial-face veils, an end to dual citizenship, iron-clad rules that newcomers socially ...

  Astana / AFP Kazakhstan’s ageing President Nursultan Nazarbayev shifted longtime ally Karim Massimov from prime minister to security chief, amid speculation over the authoritarian leader’s eventual successor. Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev has temporarily assumed Massimov’s role, until a new government is formed in the Central Asian nation, a presidential decree said. The reshuffle may offer some clues as to ...

  Sittwe/ AFP Four years after fleeing religious riots that emptied her Muslim Rohingya neighbourhood in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Myee Shay yearns for the trappings of a normal life: a job, a school for her children and the chance to buy her own food. But the 35-year-old, like tens of thousands of others displaced by the violence, remains trapped in a ...

Geneva / AFP The US and Russia conducted last-minute negotiations on Thursday over a fresh bid for a Syrian peace deal ahead of an expected high-level meeting in Geneva. Foreign ministers from the two powers, which support opposite sides in the five-year conflict, were poised to hold a “personal meeting” in the Swiss city to push for a peace agreement, according ...

  Tripoli / AFP Two car bombs went off in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Thursday morning, damaging nearby vehicles but causing no casualties, said a security official. The bombings hit behind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and near the entrance to a naval base that was the headquarters of Libya’s unity government when it set up operations in the ...

  Vientiane / AFP India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pledged to formally join the Paris climate change agreement this year, a potentially major step toward the pact entering into force. After a meeting with President Barack Obama, a champion of the deal, in Vientiane, the White House said the two leaders had made a joint commitment “to join ...

  Vientiane /AFP US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday to conduct his crime war “the right way”, as the pair clashed at an Asian summit over the crackdown that has claimed 3,000 lives. The showdown was a fitting climax to a brutal few days of diplomacy that began with the famously acid-tongued Duterte branding Obama ...

  Ramallah / AFP A Palestinian court on Thursday suspended municipal elections set for October 8 following disputes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements over candidate lists, jeopardising the first vote since 2006 to involve both parties. The decision was made by the high court in Ramallah in the West Bank, where Fatah is in power. It was not ...

  Kandahar /AFP The Taliban stormed into Tarin Kot on Thursday, triggering heavy fighting around government buildings as panicked residents scrambled to flee the capital of southern Uruzgan province, the latest city to be targeted by insurgents. Pitched battles prompted urgent calls from officials for reinforcements and air support, after the militants toppled security posts on the outskirts to breach ...

  The Hague/ AFP A Dutch MP caused on a storm Thursday after he refused to shake hands with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to parliament. On the second and final day of a trip to The Netherlands, Netanyahu met Wednesday with top Dutch politicians at the parliament building in The Hague. But as the Israeli leader ...