Aleppo / AFP Intense government air strikes and artillery fire on Saturday shook the rebel-held side of Aleppo city, where multiple hospitals have been hit and schools forced to close. The ferocious bombardment saw rockets, mortar shells and barrel bombs pound residential neighbourhoods, shaking buildings and terrifying residents, an AFP correspondent in east Aleppo said. “People went to sleep to the …

  Sanaa / AFP A 48-hour ceasefire announced by a Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen began on Saturday, after the beleaguered government finally agreed to a US peace push. The government, which has deep reservations about a UN peace blueprint it believes undermines its authority, had previously rejected a ceasefire plan announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry …

  Seoul / AFP Tens of thousands of protestors rallied in Seoul on Saturday, for the fourth in a weekly series of mass protests urging President Park Geun-hye to resign over a corruption scandal. The demonstrations—among the largest seen in South Korea since the pro-democracy protests of the 1980s—have provided a stark challenge to Park’s authority, but the president has defied …