Nearly 875,000 people displaced by Russian-backed Syrian offensive: U.N.
Nearly 875,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive against the rebel-held northwest since early December, including over 40,000 in the last four days alone, the United Nations said on Monday.
Syria’s Assad says his forces’ gains are “prelude” to rebels’ final defeat
Syrian President Bashar al Assad said on Monday his forces’ rapid recent gains in their Russian-backed military offensive presaged the eventual defeat of the nine-year insurgency that sought to oust him from power.
Chinese doctors ‘using plasma therapy’ on coronavirus patients
Doctors in Shanghai are using infusions of blood plasma from people who have recovered from the coronavirus to treat those still battling the infection, reporting some encouraging preliminary results, a Chinese professor said on Monday.
Highlights: China’s Xi recounts early role in coronavirus battle
In an internal speech at a meeting of the core Chinese leadership on Feb. 3, President Xi Jinping spelled out his plan to contain the coronavirus crisis.
Snubbed by Gulf, Lebanon’s PM Diab hosts Iranian official
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who is getting the cold shoulder from Gulf Arab states, on Monday met Iran’s parliament speaker, the first senior foreign official to visit since Diab’s government took office.
Armed men in military fatigues kill 22 in Cameroon village
Gunmen in military fatigues and masks have killed 22 people in a village at the heart of a separatist insurgency in western Cameroon, shooting women and children and burning others in their homes, the United Nations said on Monday.
Pakistan confirms escape of Taliban leader who justified Malala shooting
A high-profile local Taliban figure who announced and justified the 2012 attack on teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has escaped detention, Pakistan’s interior minister confirmed a few days after the militant announced his breakout on social medi…
EU agrees new Libya sea patrols after Austria lifts veto
The European Union will launch a new naval and air mission in the eastern Mediterranean to stop more weapons reaching the warring factions in Libya, foreign ministers agreed on Monday, after Austria lifted its veto.
India refuses entry to British lawmaker critical of Kashmir policy
A British lawmaker, who chairs an all-party group on Kashmir, has been denied entry to India after she criticized the government’s decision to strip the disputed Himalayan region of its constitutional autonomy.
Pompeo blasts corruption, promotes U.S. business in Africa trip
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced corruption and touted American business on Monday during the second leg of an African tour in Angola, where the government is seeking to claw back billions of dollars looted from state coffers.
