AFP China’s coal imports from North Korea have surged in recent months, government data showed on Monday, raising questions about Beijing’s commitment to international sanctions intended to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. As the isolated country’s sole ally and main provider of trade and aid, Beijing’s participation in the UN-imposed restrictions is crucial for their success. But in August China …

  Aleppo / AFP Residents of Syria’s Aleppo faced worsening food and medical shortages on Monday as warplanes again pounded the city after Western powers at the UN accused Russia of war crimes. A fresh wave of intensive air strikes hit the city’s opposition-controlled east from dawn on Monday, an AFP correspondent in the city said, on the morning after …

  Bloomberg NATO will start deploying surveillance aircraft next month to support the US-led fight against IS extremists, Alexander Vershbow, deputy secretary general of NATO, said on Monday. The deployment of the airborne warning and control systems will take place after alliance defense ministers meet in October, Vershbow said at a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “The aircraft will …