Turkey yesterday asked Russia to convince eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar to respect a ceasefire initiative by Ankara and Moscow that he has rejected. “We are waiting for our Russian friends to succeed in convincing Haftar,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference.…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin yesterday for talks set to focus on flashpoints in the Middle East.…

Hundreds of Iraqis yesterday mourned two reporters shot dead the previous evening in the country’s southern city of Basra, where they had been covering months of anti-government protests. Ahmad Abdessamad, a 37-year-old correspondent for local television station Al-Dijla, and his cameraman Safaa…

Iran yesterday said its armed forces had “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian airliner which crashed outside Tehran. The admission came a day after the country’s civil aviation chief had denied that the plane was brought down by a missile. The Boeing 737 crashed on Wednesday,…

A grim summer of fire and smoke has sullied Australia’s outdoorsy and healthy image, and left many fearful for the future. For the unfortunate few,…

Two luxury waterfront high-rises in southern India were reduced to rubble in controlled explosions yesterday in a rare example of authorities getting tough on builders who break environmental rules. The 19-floor H2O Holy Faith complex of 90 flats—overlooking Kerala state’s famous lush backwaters—was…

12 DEAD IN MIGRANT BOAT SINKING: GREEK COASTGUARD AFP, Athens At least 12 people died yesterday when a boat loaded with asylum-seekers sank in the Ionian Sea, the Greek coastguard said. “So far 12 bodies have been recovered. The search and rescue operation continues,” the coastguard said,…