Syria backs ‘any initiative’ for talks to end conflict
Syria’s government on Monday welcomed any initiative for talks to end bloodshed in the country, after UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said he had a peace plan acceptable to all sides. Full story22 killed in wave of Iraq attacks
A wave of bombings and shootings killed 22 people on Monday as Iraq grappled with anti-government protests and simmering political crises ahead of major Shia Muslim commemoration rituals. Full storyChinese say country still not ‘world power’: poll
More than 80 per cent of Chinese say they do not yet see their country as a ‘world power’, according to a newspaper poll published Monday. The survey, in the Global Times daily, also said that more than half of... Full storyCentral Africa rebels threaten to enter capital
Rebels in the Central African Republic on Monday renewed a threat to enter the capital Bangui, joining the political opposition in voicing scepticism over the president’s pledge to make concessions to end the crisis. Full storyNine Taliban fighters found dead in Pakistan
Bullet-ridden bodies of nine Taliban fighters were found dumped in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border on Monday, officials said. The bodies were found on the side of the road in Peer Kaley village in North... Full storyAbe supports new nuclear reactors
Japan’s new prime minister Shinzo Abe has voiced his willingness to build new nuclear reactors, reports said Monday, despite widespread public opposition to atomic energy since the Fukushima crisis. Full storyHillary in hospital with blood clot
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was at a New York hospital Monday, receiving treatment for a blood clot discovered in the aftermath of a concussion suffered earlier this month. Full storyChinese dissidents in rare visit to Nobel laureate’s wife
A small group of Chinese dissidents forced their way past security guards last week to visit the detained wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and deliver a message of support, one of the dissidents said on Monday. Full storyChavez suffers new post-op setback: VP
Venezuela plunged into political uncertainty Monday after the government announced that President Hugo Chavez had suffered a new setback after cancer surgery in Cuba and the situation he was facing was ‘tough.’ Full storySpeeding train kills five elephants in eastern India
A speeding passenger train killed five elephants when it ploughed into a herd crossing the track in eastern India, a railway spokesman said Monday. The train struck the animals on Sunday near the Khallikote forest range... Full storyLooking back 2012
