BEIRUT / AP A top adviser to the United Nations envoy for Syria said on Tuesday that their “main guidance” for the first intra-Syrian peace talks in 10 months will be a Security Council resolution that calls for political transition. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is putting the “finishing touches on arrangements” for Thursday’s start of talks in Geneva ...

  DUBAI / AP Bahraini lawmakers voted Tuesday to change the constitution to allow civilians to be tried in military courts, further empowering its security forces amid a crackdown on dissent at level unseen since its 2011 Arab Spring protests. The decision by the 40-seat Council of Representatives, the elected lower house of the tiny Gulf nation’s National Assembly, comes ...

  NGHIA BINH / AP The family of a Vietnamese woman arrested in the death of the half brother of North Korea’s ruler in Malaysia has confirmed she is their relative, but believes she didn’t knowingly participate in the killing. Kim Jong Nam died last week after apparently being poisoned in Kuala Lumpur’s airport. Speaking at their home in a ...

  JOHANNESBURG / AP The United Nations children’s agency is warning that almost 1.4 million children are at “imminent risk of death” as famine threatens parts of South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. The UNICEF announcement comes a day after famine was declared in parts of Unity state in South Sudan, where civil war has raged since late 2013 and ...

  Across Asia, the world has supposedly been witnessing the return of the strongman. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been grasping more and more control in his own hands since claiming power in 2012. Two years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and President Joko Widodo (known as “Jokowi”) in Indonesia won office by selling themselves as forceful economic ...

  Monday’s meeting of European finance ministers looks like the last chance for some form of agreement on the next leg of Greece’s 86 billion euro ($91.4 billion) bailout, before Dutch and French election complicate negotiations. Anything can still go wrong with seemingly unsolvable differences between the European authorities, the International Monetary Fund, and the Greeks. The worries are certainly ...

  US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have taken a tough line against Russia’s many recent provocations. Other than calling for all members of the alliance to pay their fair share of the military bill, however, they have offered no real plan of action. Russia’s aggressions call for a stronger response. While Mattis is ...

  US President Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser drew praise even from his staunchest critic Senator John McCain of Arizona. Trump chose H.R McMaster to fill the post left vacant after the resignation of Michael Flynn over Russian call controversy. Flynn resigned last week over the allegation that he misled Vice President Pence about contacts with Russian envoy. ...

  Bloomberg US stocks rose to records as retailer results topped estimates, while the dollar resumed its advance amid fresh signs global growth has started to accelerate. Treasuries erased losses. The S&P 500 Index rose after results from Home Depot Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. bolstered confidence the American consumer can stoke growth. European equities advanced after readings on euro-area ...

  Reuters Dubai’s stock market fell on Tuesday, breaking technical support as construction firm Arabtec continued to slide, while Egypt rebounded from a drop triggered by foreign investors’ selling. Dubai’s index sank 1.2 percent to 3,560 points, confirming a break of support on the mid-February low of 3,608 points; this triggered a double top formed by the January and February ...