AFP, SINGAPORE: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Singapore on Friday for a state visit overshadowed by an historic summit with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou at the weekend. The mainly ethnic Chinese city-state, which also hosted a China-Taiwan meeting in 1993 that helped lead to a thaw, is…

AFP, MUSCAT: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has held talks in Oman, a traditional mediator in the region, on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen where Riyadh has taken sides. Jubeir and his Omani counterpart Yussef bin Alawi reviewed “the situation in Syria and Yemen and means of strengthening…

AFP, LONDON: Activists set a police car alight and scuffled with riot police in central London as thousands took part in a “Million Mask March” anti-capitalist demonstration on Thursday night. Demonstrators threw fireworks and bottles at police, some of whom were knocked from their horses,…

AFP, SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt: US President Barack Obama and Britain’s prime minister both believe a bomb may have downed a Russian plane in Egypt, with reports Friday suggesting their theory was based on intercepted communications. With concerns over security mounting, European airlines readied…

AFP, RIO DE JANEIRO: A dam burst Thursday at a mining waste site in Brazil, unleashing a deluge of thick, red toxic mud that smothered a village and killed at least 17 people, an official said. More than 50 more were injured in the disaster in southeastern Minas Gerais state, said Adao Severino Junior,…

AFP, BEIRUT: Mustard gas was used during summer fighting in Syria but it was not clear by whom, the global chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday, while jihadists seized a key town from regime forces. The deadly gas was used in the flashpoint town of Marea in the northern province of Aleppo on August…