Geneva / AFP Syria’s warring sides prepared on Sunday for a new round of peace talks after locking horns over the fate of President Bashar Al Assad, with the regime insisting his ouster was a “red line” while the opposition vowed to see him go—dead or alive. The UN-brokered indirect negotiations are due to begin in Geneva on Monday, the …

Ankara / AP Turkish authorities on Sunday declared new 24-hour, indefinite curfews for two mainly-Kurdish towns where Turkey’s security forces are set to launch large-scale operations to battle Kurdish militants. Turkey has imposed curfews in several flashpoints in the southeast since August to root out militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, who had set up barricades, dug …

Kuwait City / AP Kuwait’s ambassador to Lebanon says a third Kuwaiti citizen has been killed in the Mediterranean country in the past three days. The official Kuwait News Agency reported late Saturday that Ambassador Abdulaal Al Qenai said Lebanese authorities informed him of the murder in the town of Burj Hammoud, northeast of the capital, Beirut. Two other Kuwaitis …