ASTANA / AP Syria’s government envoy and a rebel leader traded barbs as talks between the Mideast country’s warring sides got underway in Kazakhstan on Monday in the first face-to-face meeting between the Damascus government and rebel factions fighting to overthrow it. The gathering in Astana, the Kazakh capital, is also the start of a new effort to end …

  CAIRO / AP The Egyptian army says extremists have killed five soldiers in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the latest casualties in a yearslong struggle to control the area’s northeast. In a statement released early Monday by the military spokesman, the army expressed its condolences to the soldiers’ families and described the attackers as “enemies of the nation.” Military officials, …

  JERUSALEM / AP The mayor of Jerusalem says the Trump administration is “serious” and committed to moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Nir Barkat says that from conversations he’s had with those in the new US administration, he knows “they are serious about their intentions.” He also told Army Radio on Monday that “an embassy cannot …