London / AFP President Bashar al-Assad claimed Western powers are “becoming much weaker” in Syria, in a confident interview published Sunday in The Sunday Times. “In the past if I said anything, people would say the Syrian president is disconnected from reality. Now it’s different. The West is becoming much weaker,” told the British weekly. “They don’t have a leg …

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party on Sunday said it was pulling out of parliament after nine of its MPs including the two co-leaders were arrested in an unprecedented crackdown. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third-largest party in this legislature, said it would no longer be taking part in general sessions of parliament or commission work. The …

  Istanbul /AFP A Kurdish militant group that has carried out a string of attacks in Turkey this year on Sunday claimed a bombing on the southeastern city of Diyarbakir that killed 11, a report said. The claim by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), seen as an splinter group of the better-known Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), came after a news …