Once again Cyprus reunification talks failed to reach any conclusion. The diplomats from Turkey, Greece and Britain suspended the talks after failing to iron out differences on security guarantee for its ethnic Greek and Turkish communities. The reunifications talks have failed multiple times in the past also. This gives rise to skepticism. Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when ...

  Bloomberg The UK government is deeply concerned that Donald Trump’s closeness to Russia will give sway to Vladimir Putin in eastern Europe and weaken US ties with its traditional Western allies. The US President-elect caused alarm in London after saying he wants a warmer relationship with Russian President than the Obama administration had, according to two senior officials, who ...

  BELGRADE / AP Serbia has launched a railway service to Serb-dominated northern Kosovo despite protests from the government in Pristina which called it a provocation and an aggressive violation of its sovereignty. Serbian officials in Belgrade on Saturday saw off a Russian-made train decorated with the Serb flags, churches, monasteries and medieval towns, and inscribed with “Kosovo is Serbian” ...

  WASHINGTON / AFP Thousands are expected in Washington for a march organizers say is designed to “protect the dream of Dr Martin Luther King Jr ” and to “preserve the legacy of President Barack Obama.” The National Action Network, the group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, is sponsoring Saturday’s “We Shall Not Be Moved” march and rally ahead ...

  JOHANNESBURG / AP Gunmen in Syria have abducted a South African freelance photographer who was traveling with aid workers to the border with Turkey, an aid group said on Saturday. Shiraaz Mohamed was kidnapped on Tuesday afternoon on a “relatively safe route” near a medical facility operated by Gift of the Givers, said Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the South ...

  Bloomberg Japan and Australia agreed to enhance coordination on Asian security issues, including the South China Sea and North Korea, at a meeting of the two countries’ leaders on Saturday, while reaffirming that the US remains the cornerstone of their strategic arrangements. “We confirmed our intention to maintain solid cooperation with the incoming Trump administration,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo ...

  BERLIN / AP German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stressing as she awaits Donald Trump’s inauguration that the world’s problems need solving in cooperation, rather than by each country individually. Asked at a news conference Saturday about protectionist tendencies in the U.S., Merkel said she will seek a dialogue with the new president. “I don’t want to get ahead of that, ...

  MOSUL / AP Iraqi forces have secured less than a quarter of Mosul University as they face stiff resistance from IS fighters in the battle for control of the city, according to senior Iraqi commanders overseeing the advance. Convoys of Iraqi Humvees snaked through the sprawling university compound in eastern Mosul, pausing for artillery and airstrikes to clear snipers perched ...

  VATICAN CITY / AP Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas heads into a meeting on Saturday with Pope Francis as he rallies international support ahead of this weekend’s Paris peace summit. Among other things, Abbas is expected to raise with Francis the Palestinian concern about a possible move of the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Palestinians strongly ...

  The news this week that Yahoo! Inc. will be rechristened ‘Altaba Inc.’ elicited a lot of groans. “Apparently Yahoo renamed itself after an antihistamine,” tweeted New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac. The name “sounded more like infantile babble than the remnants of a once-promising internet giant,” wrote Fortune’s Lucinda Shen. The reason for the renaming is that Yahoo’s ...