Paris/ AFP On May 16, 1916, a secret pact carved up the floundering Ottoman Empire into spheres of British and French interest, foreshadowing the future map of the Middle East and, say critics, sowing the seeds of many of its problems. The Sykes-Picot agreement between the British and French governments for partitioning the empire’s Arab provinces was struck at ...

  Brazil / AFP Brazil’s acting president Michel Temer vowed to get Latin America’s largest economy back on track after a cascade of crises put an end to 13 years of leftist rule. Temer presided over the first meeting of his new business-friendly cabinet, setting out its priorities: creating a leaner government, balancing finances to address a crippling recession, and rooting ...

  Moscow / AFP A Russian yacht has been detained by North Korean coastguards in the Sea of Japan with five crew on board and towed in to land, Russian officials said on Saturday. “The North Korean side has communicated that the yacht has been taken to the port of Kimchaek,” Igor Agafonov, a foreign ministry official in the far-eastern ...

  BANJA LUKA / AP Tens of thousands of people are rallying in separate demonstrations for and against the regional Bosnian Serb government in the city Banja Luka. Participants in the two protests are being kept apart by police barricades to prevent them from clashing. The pro-EU Alliance for Changes is accusing the Bosnian Serb government of corruption and its ...

  Kandahar / AFP A Taliban suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden car at a police training centre in the opium-rich southern province of Helmand on Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding nine others, officials said. The attack in Nad Ali district comes in the midst of the Taliban’s annual spring offensive launched last month, in what is expected ...

  Skopje / AFP Macedonia’s former and possible next prime minister Nikola Gruevski says his party is preparing to stand in an early election next month despite a boycott by his opponents and international disapproval. Gruevski, who had stepped down in January after 10 years in power to make way for the vote, said that the troubled Balkan country could ...

  Uganda / AP Uganda’s main opposition leader has been charged with treason and jailed in a remote area in the country’s northeast, a judiciary spokesman said on Saturday. KizzaBesigye was handed charges late Friday stemming from his public attacks on the legitimacy of President YoweriMuseveni, who won a disputed election in February, said Solomon Muyita. Besigye, a qualified physician, ...

  Paris / AFP Frontline climate diplomats will seek to translate good intentions into concrete action in Bonn on Monday when they gather for the first time since hammering through a historic deal in December. “Our challenge is now to operationalize the Paris Agreement,” France and Morocco—currently co-chairs of the negotiating process—said in a briefing note. After two decades of ...

  UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s anti-corruption summit coincided with the release of an International Monetary Fund staff paper that explains why corruption is bad for economies and suggests ways to eradicate it. But neither these recommendations nor those expressed at the forum will do much to fix the developing world’s problems. That would require much more than better anti-graft ...

  In his attempt to score a point against the opposition, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared a three-month state of emergency to face what he called “threats from abroad”. Lacking charisma of his predecessor Hugo Chavez, Maduro grapples with the economic crisis triggered by the low oil prices, and emboldened foes who are gearing up for a vote to ...