Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday was hosting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for talks as the Kremlin seeks to mend ties between Damascus and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan.. - Erdogan has indicated he could meet with Assad, and their defence ministers met in Moscow in December, in the first such talks since the Syrian war began.
Environmental campaigners scored a rare victory in Albania on Wednesday after authorities announced the creation of a national park to protect the Vjosa River, one of Europe's largest undammed waterways.. In Albania, the river was threatened by a string of hydroelectric power projects, which have now been banned by authorities.
Legions of Imran Khan's angry supporters fought off riot police attempting to arrest the former Pakistan prime minister, but the 70-year-old opposition leader insists he is all about law and order.. "The reason why this is happening is not because I broke any law," he insists.
Credit Suisse shares plunged more than 20 percent to new record lows after its main shareholder said it would not provide more financial assistance to the embattled Swiss banking giant.. Credit Suisse shares were soon in freefall on the Swiss stock exchange, hitting a low of 1.71 Swiss francs just before 1100 GMT -- down 22.2 percent.
Rescuers scrambled on Wednesday to reach survivors in Malawi's battered city of Blantyre, after Cyclone Freddy struck southern Africa for a second time, triggering floods and landslides that have killed more than 200 people. . Freddy returned to southeastern Africa at the weekend for a second time in less than three weeks, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.
Bulging grey heads break the turbid waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia as a pod of rare Irrawaddy dolphins surfaces to breathe, drawing excited murmurs from tourists watching from nearby boats.. "We got news from tourist boat operators that a baby dolphin was born a few days ago," Ponlork said.
Bankrupt Sri Lanka's hospitals were crippled and transport disrupted on Wednesday as trade unions protested against the doubling of taxes to qualify for a crucial IMF bailout.. Officials involved in the negotiations said the IMF was closely monitoring the protests and social unrest since the tax reforms.
Supporters of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan clashed repeatedly with police overnight as he remained holed up in his Lahore residence early Wednesday, defying attempts to arrest him.. Khan has been summoned to court to answer accusations he did not declare gifts received during his time as prime minister, or the profit made from selling them.
After a grueling jeep trip of almost 24 hours on mostly desert roads, two-year-old Rosalinda arrived at the clinic in Uribia, northern Colombia, just in time.. Iguaran somehow managed to collect the equivalent of nearly $70 dollars from relatives for the jeep taxi ride that brought Rosalinda to the clinic -- a fortune in a region where two-thirds of people live in poverty.
White phosphorus munitions were fired on Tuesday from Russian positions on an uninhabited area by the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, AFP journalists saw.. AFP was not able to confirm if the targeted site was a position held by Ukrainian forces, but a white truck with a white cross, a sign of Ukraine's army, was parked by a path in the burned area.
