Beijing / AFP President Xi Jinping said China and the US needed to trust each other more as both sides sought to minimise tensions over the South China Sea at the opening on Monday of key annual talks in Beijing. China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has ...

  Nairobi / AFP A Burundian journalist was arrested over the weekend and handed over to the dreaded secret service, witnesses and his colleagues said on Monday, expressing fears over his well-being. Egide Ndayisenga from Bonisha FM, a leading radio station, was arrested on Sunday morning in the northwestern city of Cibitoke, a witness said. “He was visiting friends,” the ...

  ANKARA / AP A bus carrying schoolchildren, teachers and parents has plunged into an irrigation canal in southern Turkey, killing 14 people — six of them children, officials and reports said on Monday. Twenty-six other people were injured in the accident which occurred late Sunday as the bus was returning from a school trip to a national park and ...

  Halula / AFP US-backed fighters advanced to within five kilometres (three miles) of the IS group’s stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, threatening a crucial extremist supply line. The assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) adds to the pressure on IS as it faces another offensive by Russian-backed regime troops in its bastion province of Raqa and in ...

  Kuwait City/ AFP Yemen’s warring parties have pledged to free all child prisoners but have failed to reach agreement on a wider release for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the UN envoy said on Monday. “In the prisoners committee, an agreement was made on the unconditional release of children,” Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement. There ...

  BAGHDAD / AFP The IS group has been shooting at civilians as they try to flee the fighting between Iraqi government forces and IS militants in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, an international aid organization says. A number of those fleeing civilians have been killed as they tried to cross the Euphrates River, the Norwegian Refugee Council, ...

  Ottobrunn / DPA The race is on to produce an aviation fuel from algae that could power the passenger jets of the future. By creating a cycle that absorbs as much CO2 as it generates, algae fuel would cut out fossil fuel and help beat global warming. Thomas Brueck heads one of several research groups working on different projects. ...

  Marcel Schwantes / TNS I hear a lot of language about how leaders “drive performance.” It’s a popular business buzz term. Yet over the years, I’ve learned that driving no longer holds a favorable place in democratic,collaborative cultures.If you think about it, we drive cattle, cars and trucks; they have no say because “we’re in charge.” We push them ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) is hosting its largest ever group of travel trade professionals from Africa, during a six-day familiarisation trip aimed at positioning Dubai as a leading destination of choice. The familiarisation trip, which ends on June 7, has given over 300 senior management executives from 12 African countries ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Within the framework of strengthening cooperation links with educational entities in the UAE, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in order to develop qualified national human resources to work in the space science and technology sector. The MoU was signed by ...