WORLD

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States slapped sanctions on Turkey Monday as it demanded an end to the deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters, accusing its NATO partner of putting civilians at risk and allowing the release of Islamic State extremists. The actions came hours after Syrian regime …

Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump on Monday authorized sanctions on Turkey’s leaders, reimposed steel tariffs and ended trade negotiations to protest Ankara’s offensive into Syria. “I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path,” Trump said …

Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump suggested Monday that Syria’s formerly US-allied Kurds could look to 19th century French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte for protection after the US president ordered the departure of nearly 1,000 US troops from the country. Turkey was threatening to invade northeastern Syria after launching a …

Paris, France | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron made clear to Donald Trump on Monday “the absolute necessity to prevent a re-emergence” of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, after the US pulled its troops out of northern Syria. Macron warned, in a telephone call on Monday evening, that the …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Energy superpowers Saudi Arabia and Russia on Monday signed a key deal to bolster cooperation among the world’s oil giants, as visiting President Vladimir Putin sought to defuse political tensions in the Gulf. Putin’s visit follows attacks on Saudi oil installations that Riyadh and …

Luxembourg, Luxembourg | AFP | EU foreign ministers on Monday voiced concern and condemnation at Turkey’s assault on Kurdish forces in northern Syria, but warned their options for coordinated action across the bloc were limited. Several European countries including Germany and France have halted arms exports to Turkey over the offensive …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain and the European Union on Monday entered a pivotal week that will determine if they are still on course to reach amicable divorce terms — and when Brexit might finally occur. Queen Elizabeth II is due to step into the fray by performing her …

Oil, Iran top agenda as Putin visits Saudi Arabia Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia on Monday, where he is set to seal oil agreements as well as use his influence to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf. The meeting with King Salman …

  Beijing, China | AFP | President Xi Jinping has warned that any attempts to split China would result in “bodies smashed and bones ground to powder”, amid four months of anti-Beijing unrest in Hong Kong. Xi issued the dire message during a weekend visit to Nepal, according to a …

Paris, France | AFP |  Designers of machine translation tools still mostly rely on dictionaries to make a foreign language understandable. But now there is a new way: numbers. Facebook researchers say rendering words into figures and exploiting mathematical similarities between languages is a promising avenue — even if a universal …