Yangon / AFP Washington’s new ambassador to Myanmar on Tuesday said remaining sanctions had taken an “unintended” toll on the nation’s delicate economic development, as the US re-evaluates its embargoes on the former pariah state. Myanmar’s stunning transition from decades of repressive junta rule to a civilian-led government steered by Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party was accompanied …

  Vienna / AFP Austria’s unpopular and squabbling centrist coalition began the search on Tuesday for a new leader and a new start after a surging populist far-right forced Chancellor Werner Faymann to resign. The choice of a successor to Faymann, 56, who quit on Monday due to “insufficient support” in his Social Democrats (SPOe) party, is fraught with potential …

  Seoul / AFP The US government has suspended millions of dollars in funding to several organisations providing aid for Syria after discovering they were systematically overpaying Turkish companies for basic goods with the collusion of some of their staff. The US Agency for International Development’s independent government auditor said it had “established grounds resulting in the suspension of 14 …