BRISBANE / WAM Dr Obaid Al Heri Salem Al Ketbi, UAE Ambassador to Australia, met with the Hon. Steven Ciobo MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, and discussed ways to develop trade relations between the two countries. The minister said during the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the annual ceremony of the Australian Export Awards, …

  Aleppo /AFP Hundreds of civilians have fled rebel-held east Aleppo after government forces, determined to retake all of Syria’s second city, seized its largest opposition-controlled district. The capture on Saturday of Masaken Hanano—which had been the biggest rebel-held district of Aleppo—was a major breakthrough in a 13-day regime offensive to retake the entire city. The fighting moved to two …

  Istanbul / AP Twenty-two pro-Ankara Syrian rebels were hit by an IS gas attack in northern Syria, the Turkish army said Sunday, the first time Turkey has accused the extremists of chemical warfare. Observers, including the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), have previously accused IS of using mustard gas in Syria and described the possibility as extremely …

  Muscat / AP The UN envoy for Yemen announced a new bid for peace talks between the government and rebels, after the latest ceasefire failed to bring an end the 20-month conflict. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he was heading to Riyadh and Kuwait “to prepare for a new round” of talks, as he left Muscat late Saturday after discussions …

  Kuwait City / AFP Opposition groups and their allies secured nearly half of the Kuwaiti parliament’s seats, official election results showed on Sunday, raising fears of fresh political wrangling in the oil-rich Gulf state. The opposition and its allies won 24 of the assembly’s 50 seats, the electoral authority announced following Saturday’s snap election called after a dispute over the …

  New Delhi /AFP At least 10 armed men disguised as policemen attacked a high security prison on Sunday and freed a top Sikh militant commander and four others in India’s Punjab state, officials said. The attackers travelled in cars and stormed Nabha Jail after stabbing a guard at the main gate and firing rounds of live ammunition before fleeing …

  KAMPALA / AP Scores of people have been killed in fighting between Ugandan forces and a tribal militia in a remote district near the border with Congo, Ugandan officials said on Sunday as security forces battled armed men protecting a tribal king who is accused of leading the rebels. At least 54 people, including 41 rebels and 13 police officers, …

  Goma /AFP At least 34 civilians were killed on Sunday in a flare up of ethnic violence in restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said, following a week of soaring tensions. “The provisional toll is 34 civilians killed,” said local official Joy Bokele, referring to an attack by a Nande ethnicity militia on the Hutu village of Luhanga. …

  WEST PALM BEACH / AP For months Donald Trump called the presidential election “rigged.” The president-elect has a different word — “scam” — for the recount effort aimed at revisiting the vote in three pivotal battleground states. “The people have spoken and the election is over,” Trump declared on Saturday in his first comments about the growing effort to …

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has asked Donald Trump to pressure the UN Human Rights Council to drop war crimes allegations against the country’s troops. Sirisena’s office said on Sunday he had sent a “special message” to president-elect Trump seeking US intervention at the council, where Sri Lanka faces censure for wartime atrocities. “I sent a special …