Geneva / AFP Civilians under bombardment in Syria’s rebel-held east Aleppo are facing “a level of savagery that no human should have to endure,” the UN aid chief said on Sunday. Stephen O’Brien, who heads the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA), issued a fresh plea to ease the suffering of some 250,000 people besieged by a Russian-backed Syrian government …

  Istanbul / AFP Turkish police on Sunday detained a brother of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is accused of masterminding the failed July coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kutbettin Gulen was detained by police acting on a tip-off at the home of a relative in the Gaziemir district of the western Izmir province, the state-run …

  Riyadh / AFP Houthi rebels in Yemen are posing a threat to shipping in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government said Sunday after an attack on an Emirati vessel. The coalition said Shiite Houthi militiamen had attacked the vessel “on its usual route to and from (the southern port city of) Aden to transfer relief …