Beijing / AFP China has lodged a diplomatic protest with Singapore after a shipment of Singaporean military armoured vehicles being brought back from Taiwan was seized in Hong Kong, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday. Beijing stated its opposition to “any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation”, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, ...

  Berlin / AFP Francois Fillon, frontrunner to become France’s next president, has sparked unease in Germany with his friendly attitude toward Russia, which could make him an uncomfortable ally for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Fillon secured the nomination of the French conservative Republicans on Sunday with a resounding victory over his more moderate challenger Alain Juppe. Opinion polls currently predict that ...

  Nicosia / AFP UN envoy Eden Barth Eide held separate talks with rival Cypriot leaders on Monday to try to revive peace negotiations after “very high hopes” of a breakthrough were dashed last week. “What we are working on is to see how we can re-establish the momentum we had, but this has to be a decision made by ...