Beirut / AFP Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded Aleppo again on Thursday after two days of heavy bombardment that killed more than 70 civilians, as world powers prepared for last-ditch weekend talks on a ceasefire. More than 20 air strikes hit the rebel-controlled east at dawn on Thursday, killing seven civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group ...

  Baghdad / AFP The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Thursday to protest the continued presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq without Baghdad’s permission, a ministry spokesman said. Turkish troops are deployed in the Bashiqa area near the extremist-held city of Mosul, and Turkey’s prime minister has said that they will stay despite Baghdad’s demands that ...

  Bangui / AFP Thirty people were killed and 57 hurt when fighters from a militia group attacked civilians and clashed with UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic, the UN mission said on Thursday. Twelve militia fighters were killed by UN troops in the clashes on Wednesday. The violence in the central market town of Kaga Bandoro began when a ...

  Malé / AFP The Maldives angrily quit the Commonwealth on Thursday after years of wrangling over its human rights record since the toppling of its first democratically-elected leader four years ago. The troubled honeymoon island nation said it had been treated “unjustly and unfairly” by the bloc, a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former ...

Moscow / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin will seal a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an upcoming visit to deliver Moscow’s most advanced air defence system, the Kremlin said on Thursday. “An agreement on the delivery of S-400 ‘Triumph’ anti-missile defence systems and other deals will be signed as a result of the talks,” Russian news agencies ...

  Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. shares tumbled in Hong Kong to the lowest level in more than seven years after Asia’s biggest international carrier scrapped its profit outlook and said it is conducting a “critical review” of its business. The stock fell 4.7 percent to HK$10.26 on Thursday, the lowest level since July 2009, making Cathay Pacific the day’s ...

  Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd. will begin daily flights between Sydney and Beijing next year, returning to the route for the first time since the global financial crisis, as a record number of Chinese tourists visit Australia. Daily services, code-shared with Chinese partner China Eastern, will start Jan. 25 next year, the Australian airline said in a statement Thursday. Qantas ...

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. landed a deal to sell a dozen 787 Dreamliners to China Southern Airlines Co., bolstering support for its marquee carbon-fiber jetliner in an otherwise tough market for twin-aisle aircraft. The order by Asia’s biggest carrier by passenger volume is valued at $3.2 billion according to list prices, although carriers typically negotiate discounts. It comes less than ...

  Bloomberg Dutch food giant Unilever, reportedly caught up in a pricing war with a British supermarket chain, warned Thursday the falling pound will likely hike its prices in Britain. Releasing stagnant third-quarter figures, the huge multinational, which supplies popular brand names like Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, Knorr soups and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, acknowledged it was a “tough market” globally. There ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is exploring the possibility of granting more licenses to foreign banks and easing restrictions on their operations to boost growth in the private sector, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, or SAMA as the central bank is known, is weighing proposals that would allow foreign banks to open more branches ...