BEIJING / AP Pointing to stronger China-US cooperation on North Korea, a US envoy said on Thursday the two nations are united in their opposition to the North’s nuclear tests and worked together to develop the tough sanctions imposed in March. Sung Kim, the US government’s top envoy for North Korea, told reporters in Beijing that China took as ...

  Moscow / AFP The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Thursday urged the West to stop isolating Russia and take a more “constructive” approach in response to President Vladimir Putin’s moves towards normalising relations. The 85-year-old who presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War argued that Moscow has an “important and ...

  ANKARA /AP NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday efforts to stem the tide of migrants seeking the shores of Europe are working. Speaking at a press conference with Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, the Turkish capital, Stoltenberg said the collective effort is “making a difference” and that the number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea ...

  Beirut / AFP Hundreds of sick or wounded Syrians and their families were being evacuated from besieged rebel- and regime-held towns for treatment on Thursday as relief efforts intensified even as peace talks falter. The evacuees, who were “in urgent need of life-saving medical attention,” according to the United Nations, were bussed out of their enclaves late on Wednesday ...

  Brasília / AFP   Brazil’s Supreme Court dealt a new blow to embattled President Dilma Rousseff, postponing a decision on whether to let her influential predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, join her government. The latest delay on Wednesday leaves Lula, who was named chief of staff last month, in limbo while Rousseff’s own job hangs by a thread, ...

  BUCHAREST / AP Ukraine’s president says sanctions against Russia must stay in place as long as hostilities in eastern Ukraine still continue. President Petro Poroshenko said he and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis agreed that “discussions related to cancelling sanctions imposed on Russia cannot take place until the aggression stops.” Security was the main focus of talks during Poroshenko’s one-day visit ...

  Ankara / AFP NATO said on Thursday traffickers were still trying to smuggle people across the Aegean Sea, despite an unprecedented naval mission by the alliance to help tackle Europe’s migration crisis. “We have seen a significant reduction in the numbers” attempting the perilous crossing from Turkey to Greece, particularly since the implementation of a deal between Ankara and ...

  Moscow / AFP Amnesty International on Thursday condemned Russia for sending migrants and asylum seekers back to its highly repressive ex-Soviet ally Uzbekistan where they face “pervasive” use of torture. The rights group accused Russia in a new report of being “partners in crime” with Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country ruled by dour former Communist strongman Islam Karimov since ...

  Belgrade / AFP Ultra-nationalists hope to dent the success of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic as Serbia votes on Sunday, calling on the Balkan country to embrace big brother Russia instead of the European Union. While pro-European Vucic is widely expected to retain power, pro-Russian forces are set to make a comeback in parliament after several years in the cold, ...

  Rome / AFP The Italian government has decided to dissolve the town council of Brescello for fear that its local institutions have been infiltrated by the mafia. The decision was taken following a ministerial meeting on Wednesday. While dozens of other town councils in southern Italy have faced a similar fate in the past, it was the first time ...