Beirut/ AFP Syrian regime forces and rebel factions sent hundreds of reinforcements to Aleppo on Monday as opposition fighters announced an all-out offensive to take the country’s second city. The battle for Syria’s former economic powerhouse is intensifying after an opposition advance at the weekend broke through a three-week government siege of the city’s rebel-held east, dealing a major …

  Tehran / AFP Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rumoured to be planning a political comeback, has asked Barack Obama to return $2 billion of assets frozen in the US in a letter made public on Monday. Ahmadinejad wrote that despite early promises by the US president to improve ties with Iran “the same hostile policies along with the same …

  Washington / AFP Democrat Hillary Clinton has widened her lead over White House rival Donald Trump to eight points after both parties’ nominating conventions, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll out Sunday. Clinton led Trump 50 to 42 percent among registered voters, according to the telephone survey carried out August 1-4. She got a strong bounce in the …