Paris / AFP French President Francois Hollande will underline the need for European unity at a ceremony Sunday in Verdun to honour those killed in one of the bloodiest battles of World War I 100 years ago. To mark the centenary, Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will lay wreaths at cemeteries holding the dead of both sides in …

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia on Saturday received 68 Syrian refugees including 31 children out of a total of 3,000 it hopes to allow into the predominantly Muslim country with hundreds more expected soon. Last December, the Southeast Asian country accepted the first batch of 11 Syrian migrants who had relatives in Malaysia. Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi said …

  Tehran /AFP Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged newly-elected lawmakers on Saturday to resist “schemes” from the West as parliamentarians met in Tehran for the first time since elections finished in April. “The turbulent state of the region and the world and the international adventurism of oppressors and their vassals have confronted the Islamic Iran with conditions more …