Politics

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced it was planning to relocate farmers living on the edges of forests inhabited by elephants to reduce the numbers killed on both sides. Wildlife minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said the island’s elephant population had dropped to 6,000, from 7,379 counted five years ago, as deadly encounters between animals and humans increase. ...

  Bloomberg Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda on Wednesday again refused to attend his war crimes trial on the seventh day of a hunger strike which is posing a legal dilemma for international judges. Ntaganda is protesting his treatment in detention and has said he is “ready to die”, accusing the International Criminal Court of failing to give him ...

  Aleppo / AFP A ceasefire billed as the “last chance” for peace in Syria appeared to be holding on its first full day Tuesday, with residents nationwide reporting a rare respite from years of violence. The truce brokered by Russia and the United States saw guns fall silent at sundown on Monday, in the latest bid to end a ...

  Bangalore / AFP Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm on Tuesday in the Indian tech hub of Bangalore which was placed under curfew after deadly violence erupted over a water dispute with a neighbouring state. Thousands of police officers were deployed on the largely deserted streets of the southern city to enforce the curfew, after rampaging, stone-pelting mobs ...

  Juba / AFP A report commissioned by actor-activist George Clooney alleging massive corruption and war profiteering by leaders of South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, is “completely rubbish”, the government said on Tuesday. A spokesman for President Salva Kiir said the report released in Washington at a high-profile press conference headed by Clooney was both “misleading” and ill-intentioned. Released ...

  Harare / AFP Zimbabwean police have announced a fresh ban on protests in the capital Harare, state media said on Tuesday, in another attempt to end demonstrations against veteran ruler President Robert Mugabe. The order came hours after a coalition of opposition parties said they would stage mass rallies across the country on Saturday to push for reform before ...

  Manila / AFP The Philippines assured the United States on Tuesday it will honour its obligations as a military ally following volleys of profane tirades by unpredictable President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte said he was “not a fan” of Washington and on Monday called for the small number of US military advisers to leave the southern Philippines. On Tuesday Duterte ...

  Bloomberg European Union President Donald Tusk lashed out at his Polish compatriots, telling them to stop attacking the bloc as a spat between Luxembourg and Hungary underlined the east-west tension he’s struggling to defuse ahead of this week’s summit of European leaders. In untypically blunt remarks, Tusk told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Beata Szydlo in Warsaw that the ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia gears up for parliamentary elections on September 18 in the grips of its longest economic crisis since President Vladimir Putin took charge in 2000. Despite falling incomes and rising poverty, parties loyal to the Kremlin strongman look set to dominate the vote yet again. What role is the crisis playing in the vote and can ...

  Brasília / AFP Fresh off his predecessor’s impeachment, Brazilian President Michel Temer is launching reforms meant to save the tanking economy, but his austerity plan risks triggering backlash — including among his allies. The center-right president was sworn in on August 31 to serve out the rest of predecessor Dilma Rousseff’s term, after she was removed from office on charges ...