Aleppo / AFP The United States demanded that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces halt their bombardment of Aleppo and help restore a nationwide ceasefire, with Secretary of State John Kerry due to head to Geneva for talks on the conflict. Terrified residents fled a new wave of air strikes on rebel-held areas of the divided city as key regime backer …

  BEIJING / AP Taiwanese officials have protested Malaysia’s deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island’s nationals to China to face wire fraud charges. The deportation follows the sending of nearly four dozen Taiwanese from Kenya to China last month, a case that has raised concerns Beijing is exerting diplomatic pressure over the island it considers its own territory. The Taiwanese …

  Bashir / AFP Iraqi Kurdish and Turkmen Shiite forces have recaptured the town of Bashir from the IS extremist group, officials said. Pressure for an operation to retake the town had grown in March after IS launched a chemical attack from Bashir on the nearby town of Taza that killed at least three children. Kurdish peshmerga forces and Turkmen …