Hong Kong/ AFP US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden sought shelter among Hong Kong refugees after he leaked a huge trove of secret documents in the southern Chinese city, reports said on Wednesday. The former intelligence contractor had quit his job with the National Security Agency and travelled to Hong Kong in May 2013 where he initiated one of the …

  Vientiane / AFP President Barack Obama attends a farewell dinner with Southeast Asian leaders on Wednesday, capping eight years of careful courtship that has created new friends, but left links frayed with America’s oldest regional ally—Thailand. When Obama looks around the gala dinner table in Vientiane, he will find a bevy of new partners. His engagement with former Communist foes …

  London / AFP Syria’s opposition on Wednesday set out detailed plans for the transition to a democratic state without President Bashar Al-Assad at talks in London with British foreign minister Boris Johnson. Ahead of his meeting with the broad-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Johnson told The Times newspaper that the proposals would include a six-month negotiating phase between the regime …