Geneva / AFP Fresh air strikes pummelled the Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday as US Secretary of State John Kerry made a desperate bid to salvage a two-month ceasefire in the war-torn country. The top US diplomat gave some of his most downbeat comments yet after meeting the UN peace envoy on Syria, saying the conflict was “in ...

  Baghdad / AFP A car bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims killed at least 14 people in southern Baghdad on Monday, security and medical sources said. An Iraqi security command said a suicide bomber detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle, while other officials said it was a car bomb. At least 14 people were killed and at least 41 others wounded, security and medical ...

  KUWAIT CITY / AP The United Nations envoy for Yemen says the country’s government delegation has suspended its participation in peace talks aimed at ending fighting in the impoverished Arab country. U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement that the Yemeni government stopped participating in plenary sessions held in Kuwait on Sunday because of developments in the ...

  ISTANBUL / AP The Turkish military said on Monday that artillery shelling and drone attacks by the US-led coalition have struck IS positions in Syria and killed a total of 63 militants. The state-owned Anadolu Agency said the strikes took out multiple rocket launchers and gun positions. Four drones deployed from the Incirlik air base, a launching point for US-led ...

  Diyarbakir / AFP One Turkish soldier was killed and 20 others were wounded when a car bomb blamed on Kurdish militants exploded in the Kurdish-majority southeast, the army said on Monday. In a statement, the army said a total of 23 people were wounded in the blast which took place late on Sunday, 20 of them soldiers and three ...

  Tikamgarh / AFP As young boys plunge into a murky dam to escape the blistering afternoon sun, guards armed with guns stand vigil at one of the few remaining water bodies in a state hit hard by India’s crippling drought. Desperate farmers from a neighbouring state regularly attempt to steal water from the Barighat dam, forcing authorities in central ...

  Kolkata / AFP Four people were killed when the crude bombs they were making exploded in India’s West Bengal, where bitterly fought state elections are underway, a senior police official said on Monday. Another six people were injured in the explosion on Sunday night in a village about 360 kilometres (220 miles) north of Kolkata, close to the eastern ...

  BLOOMBERG With many markets across the world closed, investors pared back higher-risk holdings, keeping the Japanese yen near its strongest level in 18 months. Gold advanced with sovereign bonds, oil declined and European equities held onto their biggest loss in two months. Japan led a selloff in Asian equities, with the Topix index sliding for a fifth day as ...

  ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has decreased by -1.05% to close at 4528.92 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has lost AED 7.76 billion attaining AED 734.65 billion. A total of 399.22 Million Shares were traded with a total value of AED 0.63 billion during the trading session of 02-05-2016 through 6588 transactions. The number of companies ...

  Sydney / AFP Australian banking heavyweight Westpac posted a three percent rise in interim net profit on Monday as it battles regulatory changes and rising bad loans, disappointing investors who savaged the share price. Westpac’s Aus$3.70 billion (US$2.81 billion) result in the six months to March 31 kicked off a week of half-yearly reporting from the nation’s top lenders, ...