BRASILIA / Reuters Brazil’s inflation rate slowed sharply in March to below 10 percent a year, the lowest in nine months, although it still remained well above the government’s target despite a severe recession and one of the world’s highest interest rates. Consumer prices as measured by the benchmark IPCA index rose 9.39 percent in the 12 months through March, …

Beirut / AFP The IS group is under growing pressure on several fronts in Syria as rival forces battle to wrest territory from the extremists, who are excluded from a six-week-old ceasefire. The scramble by the regime, anti-government rebels and Kurdish militia to recapture areas from IS has been given added urgency by the prospect of a possible federal system. …

Paris / AFP The ceasefire in Syria “is about to collapse,” an official from the opposition said in an interview published on Sunday, just days before the resumption of peace talks in Geneva. “Over the last 10 days we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse,” BassmaKodmani, a member of the High Negotiations Committee …