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 …

  In a bid to revive its flagging economy, China has gone back to its old ways, with rapid credit growth sparking a pick-up in the “old economy” sectors of construction, housing and manufacturing. However, keeping the good times rolling by delaying reforms could yet bring bigger problems for the world’s second-largest economy, according to analysts. On Friday, Asia’s economic …

A new Cybersecurity Act will be tabled in Singapore’s parliament next year, Singapore’s minister for communications and information, Yaacob Ibrahim, announced on April 11. According to Yaacob, the bill is aimed protecting the country’s critical information infrastructure. The bill will empower the year-old Cyber Security Agency (CSA) to “manage cyber incidents and raise the standards of cybersecurity providers in Singapore,” …

  There are sometimes good reasons to be worried about the U.S. national debt. The debt has to be serviced, and that requires collecting taxes, which distort the economy. If government debt gets so large that the only way to avoid a default is to hold down interest rates forever, those low rates can eventually have negative effects on the …