Lebanon s cabinet is expected to approve reforms including halving ministers wages on Monday in a bid to ease an economic crisis and defuse protests that have been the biggest show of dissent against the ruling elite in decades. Protesters blocked roads for a fifth day of demonstrations fuelled by the crippling economic conditions and anger at perceived corruption of the political elite that has led Lebanon into the crisis. Officials told Reuters on Sunday that Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri had agreed a package of reforms with his government partners to tackle the crisis that has driven hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets. The government is due to meet at 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) at the presidential palace in the Beirut suburb of Baabda. In central Beirut, scene of the largest protest, people prepared for another day of demonstrations. "If we get reforms, for a start it’s good, to calm down the storms, people are angry ... but on the long term, I don’t know if it will make a change," said Rida Jammoul, football coach, who was helping to clean-up in Beirut. Another protester, Ziad Abou Chakra, said he would continue to protest until the government was toppled. "We will stay here and we won t open the roads whatever happens," he said, manning a road block in the Zouk Mikhael area north of Beriut. The reform plan includes a 50% cut in salaries of current and former presidents, ministers and lawmakers, as well as reductions in benefits for state institutions and officials. It also includes the central bank and private banks contributing $3.3 billion to achieve a "near zero deficit" for the 2020 budget. The government also aims to privatise the telecommunications sector and overhaul the costly and crumbling electricity sector, one of the biggest strains on Lebanon s depleted finances. Hariri, who leads a coalition cabinet mired in sectarian and political rivalries, gave his feuding government a 72-hour deadline on Friday to agree reforms to ward off crisis, hinting he might otherwise resign. The deadline expires on Monday. A chorus of voices, from union leaders to politicians, has joined calls for Hariri s government to resign. The protests have spread across the country since Thursday. Banks were closed on Monday and the main labour union went on strike, threatening further paralysis. "The message to the politicians is don t ever underestimate the power of the people because once they unite they will explode - peacefully," said Hiba Dandachli, 36, a social entrepreneur who was helping to organise the clean-up. "There are children, families, all from different religions and backgrounds," she said. "If the politicians learn from this they will learn how to lead the country much better."

US forces withdrew from a key base in northern Syria Sunday, a monitor said, two days before the end of a US-brokered truce to stem a Turkish attack on Kurdish forces in the region. An AFP correspondent saw more than 70 US armoured vehicles escorted by helicopters drive past the town of Tal Tamr carrying military equipment. Some flew the American stars-and-stripes flag as they made their way eastwards along a highway crossing the town, he said. The Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights said the convoy was evacuating the military base of Sarrin. It appeared to be heading to the town of Hassakeh, further east, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside war-torn Syria for its information. Sarrin "is the largest American military base in the north of the country," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. It is situated on the edges of a planned "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border that Turkey wants to keep Kurdish forces away from its frontier, he explained. Sunday s pullout was the fourth such withdrawal of American forces in a week and left Syria s northern provinces of Aleppo and Raqa devoid of US troops, Abdel Rahman said. The Kurds have been a key ally to Washington in the US-backed fight against Islamic State group jihadists in Syria, but Ankara views them as "terrorists" linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil. A week ago, the Pentagon said US President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria as Turkish troops advanced into Syrian territory. Turkey launched a cross-border incursion into Syria on October 9, after Trump said he would pull back US special forces in the Kurdish-held north. After the violence killed scores from both sides and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes, a US-brokered ceasefire was announced late Thursday. Turkey has given the Syrian Democratic Forces, the de facto army of the Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria, until Tuesday evening to withdraw from a 30-kilometre strip of Syrian land along its southern border. Both sides accuse each other of violating the truce.

The embattled Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria on Thursday accused Turkey of resorting to banned weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus munitions. The use of such weapons since the start of the cross-border assault by Turkey and its Syrian proxies could not immediately be confirmed independently. In a statement issued eight days into the deadly offensive, the Kurdish administration said Turkey had resorted to their use because of unexpectedly stiff resistance by Kurdish fighters in the key border town of Ras al-Ain. "The Turkish aggression is using all available weapons against Ras al-Ain," the Kurdish statement said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far ignored international pressure to halt the offensive, which has killed dozens of civilians and displaced more than 300,000 people. "Faced with the obvious failure of his plan, Erdogan is resorting to weapons that are globally banned such as phosphorus and napalm," the statement added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group with a wide network of sources on the ground, could not confirm the use of napalm or white phosphorus. But Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said there had been a spike in burn wounds over the past two days, mostly casualties brought in from the Ras al-Ain area. Kurdish officials posted a video on social media showing children with burns one doctor in Hasakeh province argues are consistent with the use of banned weapons. Made notorious by their widespread use by US forces in the Vietnam War, napalm and related chemicals are mixtures of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical used in incendiary bombs. White phosphorus can be used to create a smoke screen or as a battlefield marker, but it can also be deployed as a deadly incendiary weapon, a use prohibited under international law. A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces -- the autonomous Kurdish region s de facto army -- called on international organisations to send in experts. "We urge international organisations to send their teams to investigate some wounds sustained in attacks," Mustefa Bali said on social media. "The medical facilities in NE Syria lack expert teams," he added.

Turkey remained defiant against mounting international pressure to curb its military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria, raising tensions with Washington as Vice President Mike Pence headed for Ankara on Wednesday to demand a ceasefire. Battles raged in the key Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain as dawn broke on Wednesday, with Kurdish fighters trying to hold off the onslaught by Turkish-backed forces, now in its second week. The fighting has triggered a flurry of diplomacy among major powers, with US President Donald Trump dispatching Pence along with his top diplomat Mike Pompeo to Turkey amid the greatest crisis in relations for decades between the NATO allies. The Kremlin said it would host President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the coming days, to ensure the operation does not turn into an all-out war between Turkey and Syria. Russia has stepped into the void caused by Trump s withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria, deploying patrols to prevent clashes between Syrian and Turkish forces. Trump -- facing mounting criticism in Washington over his decision to pull 1,000 troops out of the conflict zone, as well as an unrelated impeachment inquiry -- has hit back at Erdogan, slapping sanctions on three cabinet officials and raising tariffs on Turkish steel. Pence said he would meet with Erdogan on Thursday and "voice the United States commitment to reach an immediate ceasefire and the conditions for a negotiated settlement", his office said in a statement. He reiterated that Trump will pursue "punishing economic sanctions" until a resolution is reached. But Erdogan remained unfazed by the pressure, telling reporters: "They tell us to declare a ceasefire . We can never declare a ceasefire." The operation has widespread support in Turkey, where decades of bloody insurgency by Kurdish militants has killed tens of thousands of people. But Western powers are spooked that the operation is endangering the battle against the Islamic State group, which was led on the ground by Kurdish forces. Thousands of IS prisoners are held in Kurdish-run camps in the region. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday that the camps were not "currently" under threat from the operation, but Europe has taken an increasingly tough line with Turkey. Britain and Spain became the latest powers to suspend military exports to Turkey on Tuesday. Canada made a similar move. - Kurds try to defend border - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have mounted a desperate defence to the east of Ras al-Ain, using tunnels, berms and trenches. An AFP correspondent said clashes around the town were ongoing on Wednesday despite Ankara s repeated claims it had captured the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Kurdish fighters had launched "a large counterattack against Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies near Ras al-Ain" on Tuesday and reported "fierce combat" in the west of the town as well as in Tal Abyad. Since launching their assault on October 9, Turkish-backed forces have secured more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) of border, but Ras al-Ain -- Siri Kani in Kurdish -- has held out. Erdogan, who like Trump faces political difficulties at home, wants to create a buffer zone stretching 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border into Syrian territory. He wants to destroy Kurdish hopes of an autonomous enclave that could serve as a launching pad for attacks in Turkey, as well as resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it is hosting. "God willing, we will quickly secure the region stretching from Manbij to our border with Iraq," Erdogan said. The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mostly on the Kurdish side, and displaced at least 160,000 people. - Russia fills void - Syrian forces have returned to the region for the first time in years, raising their flag in Manbij as part of a deal with the Kurds. Russia said its military police were patrolling a zone separating regime and Turkish troops, in cooperation with Ankara. With Trump s critics saying that he handed over US allies and stretches of Syria to Russia, the United States tried to play down Moscow s role. "The number of Russians is very, very limited. But it only takes a few Russians with a big Russian flag to get everybody to pay attention," a senior administration official told reporters in Washington. Meanwhile, at least three French women escapees were "retrieved" by IS, according to messages they sent to their lawyer seen by AFP. An SDF official on Twitter Tuesday said more IS relatives had tried and failed to escape the overcrowded camp of Al-Hol in eastern Syria.

Russian Vladimir Putin has arrived in the United Arab Emirates on his first visit to the small but wealthy country in over a decade. Putin landed Tuesday in Abu Dhabi after earlier visiting Saudi Arabia. He was met at the airport by Abu Dhabi s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. While in Saudi Arabia, one topic of discussion was oil production. Russia is now working with OPEC, as are other nations not part of the cartel, to control production to help raise energy prices. Meanwhile, tensions remain high in the region, amid a standoff between the U.S. and Iran over President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrawing America from Tehran s nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago. Putin last visited the UAE in 2007.

European Union leaders are looking to broaden an arms embargo against NATO ally Turkey to protest its offensive against Kurdish forces in neighboring Syria. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said Monday ``it is against international law to invade a neighboring country and Turkey should as every other country abide by international law. Blok was speaking at the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg. Germany, France and the Netherlands have already suspended arms sales to Turkey. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that he also wanted a ``a strong position on the export of arms to Turkey. But Le Drian also called on the United States ``above all to call for a meeting of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, over alarm that the chaos caused by the Turkish offensive was reviving the threat of IS. Syria s Kurds were key allies in a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group. Syria s state news agency says government forces have entered the northern town of Tal Tamr that is close to Turkey s border. SANA said Monday morning that the Syrian army moved into the area to ``confront the Turkish aggression, without giving further details. The report says residents of Tal Tamr that is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Turkish border welcomed the troops. It did not say from which area the Syrian army marched toward the town. The move toward Tal Tamr came a day after Syria s Kurds said Syrian government forces agreed to help them fend off Turkey s invasion _ a major shift in alliances that came after President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos.

Tunisians cast votes three times in the past two months in presidential and parliamentary elections. On Sunday, they will be voting in the presidential run-off elections. The public mood, eight years after the overthrow of the Ben Ali regime, is obviously leaning towards those with little history in political life. From the 26 candidates who competed during the first round of the presidential elections in September, a law professor, Kais Saied, 61, and a media mogul, Nabil Karoui, 56 made it to the run-offs. The presidential winner will succeed Beji Caid Essebsi, who died in July at the age of 92. In the first round, Saied took 18.4 percent of the votes, while Karoui received 15.6 percent. The presidential candidate of the Islamist Ennahda Party, Abdelfattah Mourou, came in third with 12.9 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, in the parliamentary elections, Karoui’s Heart of Tunisia Party came second (38 seats) after Ennahda Party 52 seats out of a total of 217 seats. Ennahda, which won 17 less seats than those it earned during the 2014 parliamentary race, backs Saied. This provides further evidence of the growing interest in backing new political forces, especially amid rising divisions and tensions among the secular forces that built Essebsi’s Nidaa Tounes. Both Saied and Karoui speak about themselves as political outsiders, though there are obvious differences between them. Karoui was detained in August ahead of the first round of presidential elections on charges of money laundering and tax evasion. on Wednesday, an appeals court freed the business tycoon, pending investigations. Tunisia’s electoral commission had warned that Karoui s imprisonment could negatively affected his chances in getting in touch with voters, which could annul the results. Tunisia’s interim president Mohammed Ennaceur also cautioned last week that the credibility of the elections was damaged by Karoui s detention. The election-observing institutions shared similar standpoints. The way the judicial process will be run is yet unclear, especially in case he was elected president. If he Karoui loses in the runoff, according to his lawyers, he will challenge the result in court on the basis of being denied an equal opportunity to campaign for himself. Some critics of Karoui accuse him of being corrupt. However, for his supporters, Karoui represents the forces of secularism and liberalism and is also a staunch backer of the poor. Karoui’s Nessma TV and charity activities have significantly helped him win support among the poorer sects of Tunisia. Nessma TV had played a key role in mobilizing voters’ support for the secular parties during Tunisia’s parliamentary elections in 2014. Unlike Saied, Karoui vowed to increase the powers of the president in Tunisia, holding the parliamentary system accountable for "paralyzing the country." On the other hand, the independent candidate Saied — who stopped campaigning last week in respect of the notion of equal opportunities — had a weak campaign with very limited funding and media exposure. The legal scholar presents himself as someone who defends the principles of the 2011 revolution of Tunisia, slamming party politics and stressing the need to decentralise power. Described by his backers as the “professor”, Saied is a politically conservative figure. He became popular through his regular TV comments on the constitution-drafting process in 2014. He is pro-death penalty, an opponent of homosexuality, and calls for a law that punishes unmarried couples for the public display of affection. Moreover, though many see that Saied is not a supporter of political Islam, and having vowed to defend women s rights, he still rejects recent changes in Tunisia’s inheritance law which establishes equal rights between men and women in inheritance matters. Meanwhile, Karoui portrays himself as a “modernist liberal” and has promised to implement neoliberal economic policies. “My programme is the total opening of the economy with the reforms necessary to attract foreign investment,” he said. The race for presidency in Tunisia comes amid social and economic challenges facing the country, including high unemployment, especially among the youth, deteriorating public services, hiking prices and harsh austerity measures passed under a programme signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Moreover, Tunisia s tourism sector, a major source of income for the North African country, has not been able to recover from a string of attacks on tourist destinations in recent years. On Friday, many Tunisians closely watched a televised debate between Saied and Karoui. However, many found the encounter did not properly tackle major concerns of the Tunisians, mainly those about the security, economy and inheritance law.

Iran called Thursday for an immediate halt to Turkey s offensive on Kurdish-ruled northeastern Syria, citing concern for the dangers to civilians in the conflict zone. "Iran... emphasises (the need for) an immediate halt to the assault and the departure of Turkish military units from Syrian territory," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Iran is a close ally of the Syrian government, which has sought to exploit the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces that were the mainstay of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria to win the region back to central government control.

The Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria called up civilians on Wednesday to defend the region against a feared Turkish assault, believed to be imminent. "We announce three days of general mobilisation in northern and eastern Syria," it said in a statement, urging all civilians to "head to the border with Turkey... to resist during this delicate historical moment". It also called on Kurds in Syria and abroad to protest against Ankara s planned offensive. Ankara said on Tuesday it would "shortly" begin an offensive into northern Syria, as it sent more armoured vehicles to the border. Turkey s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, wrote in the Washington Post that Kurdish forces can either "defect" or Turkey will "have no choice but to stop them from disrupting our counter-Islamic State efforts". US President Donald Trump has blown hot and cold since a surprise announcement on Sunday that Washington was pulling back 50 to 100 "special operators" from Syria s border with Turkey. After appearing to give a green light to the Turkish invasion, he later threatened to "obliterate" Turkey s economy if it went too far. He also insisted the United States had not abandoned its Kurdish allies by pulling forces out of the area. On Wednesday, the Kurdish administration said it would hold its US ally and the whole international community responsible for any "humanitarian catastrophe" that unfolds in the territory under its control. Kurdish forces took heavy losses in the US-backed campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria which they spearheaded. In March, they declared the territorial defeat of IS after overrunning the jihadists last redoubt in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria. Ankara strongly opposed Washington s support for Kurdish forces in Syria citing their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has fought a deadly insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey has already carried out two cross-border offensives into Syria, including one in 2018 that saw it and allied Syria rebels overrun the majority-Kurdish Afrin enclave in the northwest.

Turkey s preparations for an offensive in northern Syria have been "completed", the defence ministry said Tuesday, after confusing signals from the US over whether it would allow an operation. US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Turkey s border with Syria on Sunday after a phone call with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president has repeatedly threatened to attack Kurdish militants in northern Syria due to their ties with separatists in his own country. "All of the preparations for an operation have been completed," the Turkish defence ministry tweeted, hours after US forces withdrew from the border area. Erdogan had earlier said the operation could come at any moment "without warning". Trump s move was seen by critics as an abandonment of Kurdish forces which had been the key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group. But there was confusion later on Monday when Trump tweeted that he would "obliterate" Turkey s economy if it went too far. Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay responded to Trump s threat on Tuesday, warning that "Turkey is not a country that will act according to threats". "As our president always stresses, Turkey will always set its own path and will take matters into its own hands," Oktay said in a speech in Ankara. Turkey says it wants a "safe zone" along northern Syria to act as a buffer against Kurdish forces and also allow the return home of up to two million Syrian refugees. It has previously launched two cross-border offensives against IS in 2016 and the YPG in 2018, with the support of Syrian rebels.

The United States said it was pulling troops from northeast Syria, in a major shift which clears the way for a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish-led forces and hands Turkey responsibility for thousands of Islamic State captives. A U.S. official said American troops had withdrawn from two observation posts on the border, at Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain, and had told the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that the United States would not defend the SDF from an imminent Turkish offensive. "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria," the White House said after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkey s President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. "The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial "Caliphate", will no longer be in the immediate area," it added in a statement. Turkey has long argued for the establishment of a 20-mile (32 km) "safe zone" along the border, under Turkish control, driving back the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia - which is the dominant force in the SDF alliance and which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation and a threat to its national security. The United States helped the YPG defeat Islamic State militants in Syria, and had been seeking a joint security mechanism with Turkey along the border to meet Turkey s security needs without threatening the SDF. The SDF accused Washington on Monday of reneging on an ally which spearheaded the fight against Islamic State in Syria, and warned that it would have a "great negative" impact on the war against the jihadists. "The American forces did not fulfill their commitments and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey, and Turkey is now preparing for an invasion operation of northern and eastern Syria," it said in a statement. SDF official Mustafa Bali said U.S. forces were "leaving leaving the areas to turn into a war zone". Islamic State captives The White House statement appeared to hand over to Turkey responsibility for captured Islamic State jihadists who are currently held in SDF facilities to the south of Turkey s initially proposed safe zone. "Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years," it said. The statement also made pointed reference to Washington s European allies, saying many of the captured IS fighters came from those countries, which had resisted U.S. calls to take them back. "The United States will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the United States taxpayer," the White House said. In the first Turkish comment following the statement, Erdogan s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey s "safe zone" plan was within the framework of Syria s territorial integrity. "The safe zone has two aims: to secure our borders by clearing away terrorist elements and to achieve the return of refugees in a safe way," Kalin wrote on Twitter. "Turkey is powerful and determined," he added. Turkey says it wants to settle up to 2 million Syrian refugees in the zone. It currently hosts 3.6 million Syrians sheltering from the more than eight-year-old conflict in their homeland. After the statements, Turkey s lira was trading weaker at 5.7150 against the U.S. dollar, compared with a close of 5.70 on Friday. After the Erdogan-Trump phone call, the Turkish presidency said the two leaders had agreed to meet in Washington next month. It said that during the call Erdogan had expressed his frustration with the failure of U.S. military and security officials to implement the agreement between the two countries. The NATO allies agreed in August to establish a zone in northeast Syria along the border with Turkey. Turkey says the United States moved too slowly to set up the zone. It has repeatedly warned of launching an offensive on its own into northeast Syria. Ties between the allies have also been pressured over Turkey s purchase of Russian S-400 defence missiles and the trial of local U.S. consulate employees in Turkey.

Tunisians began voting on Sunday for a parliament that must address chronic economic problems at a moment when political newcomers are mounting a challenge to the established parties. Voters queued outside polling stations in the capital Tunis, only eight years after a popular uprising that inspired the "Arab Spring". But the failure of repeated coalition governments that grouped the old secular elite and the long-banned moderate Islamist Ennahda party to address a weak economy and declining public services has disillusioned many voters. Sunday s vote for parliament is sandwiched between two rounds of a presidential election in which turnout has been low and which advanced two political newcomers to the runoff at the expense of major-party candidates. It is not clear what that may mean for Sunday s election, in which Ennahda is one of several parties hoping to emerge with most votes, including the Heart of Tunisia party of media mogul Nabil Karoui. While the president directly controls foreign and defence policy, the largest party in parliament nominates the prime minister, who forms a government focused on most domestic policy. *This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Iraqi security forces imposed a round-the-clock curfew in Baghdad and fired live rounds and tear gas on Thursday to disperse anti-government protests that have gripped the country since earlier this week, killing 21 people so far. In a desperate attempt to quell the demonstrations, which were spontaneous and mostly spurred by woes over deteriorating economy and lack of jobs and services, authorities have cut internet access across much of Iraq.

Talks to form a national unity government in Israel hit a further snag on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s centrist election rival called off a meeting with the embattled leader. Netanyahu said on Sunday he would make a final effort this week to reach an agreement and would likely meet with his challenger Benny Gantz on Wednesday after further negotiations between their parties. On Sunday, Blue and White said it would "hold any meeting and spare no effort" to form a broad unity government. But on Tuesday the party said conditions were not ripe yet to hold effective negotiations between the parties and their leaders. An inconclusive ballot on Sept. 17, the second this year, has created a political deadlock and left Israel s longest-serving prime minister weakened. Netanyahu, facing a looming indictment on corruption allegations he denies, has failed to secure a clear election victory twice in six months. His right-wing Likud party came second with 32 seats in the 120-member parliament, against 33 for former military chief Gantz s centrist Blue and White party. The parties negotiators had met on Sunday without success, with each side blaming the other for the stalemate. With neither party leader appearing able to put together a coalition with a ruling majority on his own, Israel s president last week tasked Netanyahu with forming the next government in the hope of securing a power-sharing deal between the Blue and White party and Likud. If Netanyahu fails to clinch a deal, President Reuven Rivlin is then likely to ask Gantz to try to form a government, though he, like Netanyahu, also has no clear path to power. Gantz has pledged not to serve in a government under a premier facing criminal charges. His party has accused Likud of stalling in the talks in the hope of triggering yet another election. Israel’s attorney-general is due to hold a pre-trial hearing this week on his announced intention to indict Netanyahu on fraud and bribery charges in three corruption cases. Netanyahu, who says he is a victim of a political witchhunt, can argue at the session against prosecution. A final decision by the attorney-general on an indictment is expected by the end of 2019.

Trucks carrying weapons including a nuclear missile designed to evade U.S. defenses rumbled through Beijing on Tuesday as the Communist Party celebrated its 70th anniversary in power with a military parade that showcased its emergence as an increasingly ambitious global power. The military showed off China s most advanced weapons, some being shown for the first time, as rows of soldiers marched in lockstep past President Xi Jinping and other leaders in Tiananmen Square, the country s symbolic political heart. Thousands of spectators waved Chinese flags and fighter jets flew low overhead. "No force can shake the status of our great motherland, and no force can stop the progress of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, Xi, wearing a gray Mao jacket, said in a nationally televised speech. As he spoke, anti-government protesters in Hong Kong gathered for the latest in a series of demonstrations that have challenged Beijing ahead of this year s highest-profile political event. The largest group took over a broad thoroughfare in central Hong Kong and chanted slogans against the Communist Party. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attended the Beijing parade, accompanied by dozens of Hong Kong officials and dignitaries in a show of unity with the ruling party. Xi was joined on the Tiananmen rostrum by Premier Li Keqiang, former Presidents Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin and other leaders. The event commemorates the anniversary of the Oct. 1, 1949, founding of the People s Republic of China by then-leader Mao Zedong following a civil war. Invoking Mao s memory, Xi made his speech Tuesday on the same spot as the former leader s 1949 declaration. Xi rode in an open-topped limousine past dozens of rows of truck-mounted missiles, armored personnel carriers and other military gear. Soldiers in helmets and combat gear shouted, "Hello, leader! and "Serve the people! Xi replied, "Hello, comrades. A formation of fighter jets trailing colored smoke and led by a plane with a radar dish flew low over the capital as Xi waved to the pilots from the ground. The event highlighted rapidly developing Chinese weapons technology, paid for by a three-decade old economic boom that supported a 400% increase in military spending over the past decade. Foreign analysts say it is close to matching the United States, Russia and Europe in missiles, drones and some other fields. The People s Liberation Army, the world s biggest military with 2 million men and women in uniform, also is working on fighter planes, the first Chinese-built aircraft carrier and a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines. Tuesday s parade "aims to show the outside world China s confidence and ability to protect its "overseas interests, said Yue Gang, a retired army colonel and military commentator. "Although China has made great improvements in its military equipment, China should not relax vigilance and needs to continue to make efforts, Yue said. One closely-watched weapon unveiled Tuesday was the Dongfeng-17, a glider capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Foreign analysts say is designed to maneuver at high speed to evade anti-missile defenses. Another missile displayed, the Dongfeng-41, is believed to have a range of up to 15,000 kilometers (9,400 miles), which would make it world s longest-range military missile. Analysts say it may be able to carry as many as 10 warheads to hit separate targets. The party s emphasis on missiles and other long-range weapons reflects Beijing s desire to displace the United States as the region s dominant force and enforce claims to Taiwan, the South China Sea and other disputed territories. The PLA had the world s second-highest military spending at an estimated $250 billion last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The United States, with a force of 1.3 million people, led in spending at $650 billion, or more than 2{ times China s level. China has about 280 nuclear warheads, compared with 6,450 for the United States and 6,850 for Russia, according to SIPRI. Beijing says it wants a "minimum credible nuclear deterrent but won t be the first to use atomic weapons in a conflict. China can "reach potential adversaries across the globe, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said in a report in January. Tuesday s celebration comes as Xi s government faces economic and political challenges, but the ruling party s hold on power appears to be secure three decades after it crushed pro-democracy protests centered on Tiananmen Square. Beijing is trying to shore up cooling economic growth and prevent politically dangerous job losses amid a tariff war with Washington over trade and technology, a dispute that has battered Chinese exporters. Xi promised in a speech Monday to stick to official commitments to let Hong Kong manage its own affairs despite the unrest in the territory. Paramilitary policy maintained a strong presence Tuesday in Shenzhen, the mainland city that abuts Hong Kong. Dozens of armored personnel carriers and other vehicles of the People s Armed Police were parked outside a stadium as authorities prepared for an evening fireworks display. Also Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised his country s decades-long ties with Beijing in a congratulatory message to Xi and said Pyongyang would stand by China in "defending and glorifying socialism, according to the North s official news agency. The two leaders have met five times amid pressure on Pyongyang to renounced nuclear weapons development. Xi, the son of a commander in Mao s guerrilla army, has emerged as China s most powerful leader in decades after using a marathon anti-corruption drive to neutralize potential rivals. The party removed presidential term limits last year, rolling back efforts to create a consensus-based system and prevent autocratic one-man rule. In his speech Monday, Xi reminded Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own territory, of the ruling party s pledge to unite it with the mainland, by force if necessary. Beijing is using China s status as the world s second-biggest economy as leverage to isolate Taiwan politically. China has pressured foreign retailers, airlines and other companies to identify the island and the mainland as one country on their websites. In its latest diplomatic coup, Beijing persuaded the Solomon Islands last month to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Taiwan s unification with the mainland is "an inevitable trend and "no force can ever stop it, Xi said.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was given full military honors on Monday as past and current world leaders gathered in Paris to attend his final service. On a mild, sunny morning, French President Emmanuel Macron cut a solemn figure as he presided over the ceremony near the site of Napoleon s tomb in the courtyard of Les Invalides. A military band played the national anthem, "La Marseillaise, before Macron inspected the troops. Chirac s casket, covered with a Tricolor flag, was then carried to the center of the courtyard. Macron, who did not speak, will also attend a memorial service at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in downtown Paris alongside dozens of French politicians and foreign officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and Jordan s King Abdallah II. A private funeral will take place later at the Montparnasse cemetery. A private family church service for Chirac was celebrated prior to the military tribute and a minute of silence was being held in schools and public buildings across the country Monday on France s national day of mourning for its former leader. A mainstay of French politics over four decades, Chirac served as Paris mayor, a lawmaker, prime minister and France s president from 1995 to 2007. The last French head of state to complete two terms in office, Chirac died Thursday at age 86. Known for championing the nation s sense of its own grandeur, Chirac is being remembered fondly despite political failures and a 2011 corruption conviction from actions during his nearly two decades as mayor of Paris. As president from 1995-2007, he was a consummate global diplomat but failed to reform the French economy or defuse tensions between police and minority youths that exploded into riots across France in 2005. Once nicknamed "Super Liar, his popularity soared after he left office. Thousands of mourners paid him tribute Sunday at Les Invalides, where his body lay in state on the eve of the memorial service. Mourners also gathered early outside the Church of Saint-Sulpice ahead of Chirac s final service. "He was a great man who had an absolute fantastic class in all circumstances, said one member of the public, Nadine Prevost. "He knew how to speak to everyone with a simplicity and a grandeur and that s what made for the richness of his contact.

Austrians vote on Sunday in a snap parliamentary election that conservative leader Sebastian Kurz looks set to win, but he will still need a coalition partner to secure a majority and it remains unclear whom he will pick. The election follows the collapse in May of Kurz’s coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) after a video sting scandal that forced FPO Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down. Kurz, 33, has emerged largely unscathed from the scandal, even gaining voters from the FPO as its support has slipped to roughly a fifth of the electorate from just over a quarter in the last vote in 2017. On the left, there has been some shift in support from the Social Democrats to the resurgent Greens. But the overall picture since the scandal’s immediate aftermath has been remarkably stable. Opinion polls have generally shown Kurz’s People’s Party (OVP) far ahead on roughly a third of the vote, the Social Democrats slightly ahead of the FPO and the Greens a distant fourth. “Lots of agitation, but not much movement,” national broadcaster ORF said on Saturday, summarizing a campaign with many debates between party leaders that failed to make a serious mark on the opinion polls. Kurz has said he will talk to all parties after the election if he wins. His two most likely options are either to ally with the FPO again or with the Greens and liberal Neos. A centrist coalition with the Social Democrats is possible but unlikely under their current leadership. Lengthy Talks Surveys suggest the environment is voters’ top concern, which has helped the Greens surge from less than 4% in the last election in 2017, when they crashed out of parliament, to around 13% now. While they might be able to give Kurz and his party a narrow majority in parliament, he is unlikely to want to be at the mercy of a small number of its left-wing lawmakers, meaning that if he chooses to ally with the Greens he will probably seek a three-way tie-up including the pro-business Neos. As the campaign wound up last week, the FPO sought to focus voters’ attention on its core issue of migration, railing against immigrants in general and Muslims in particular, rather than addressing recent scandals that have eroded its support.

Former French president Jacques Chirac, who led France from 1995 to 2007, died on Thursday morning at the age of 86, his son-in-law told Reuters. "He passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his loved ones," his son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux said. The head of the lower house of the French parliament interrupted a sitting of the chamber to hold a minute s silence. Chirac, France s second-longest serving president dominated French politics for decades. Following in the footsteps of previous French leader Charles de Gaulle, Chirac tried to elevate France s status as a player on the world stage. He stirred national pride with his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. After leaving public office, he suffered from neurological problems, and was rarely seen in public at the end of his life.

As dozens of heads of state convene for the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, the lingering conflict in Syria is taking a back seat while tensions in the Gulf and global trade wars take center stage. Now in its ninth year, many Syrians fear the unresolved war has become a footnote in a long list of world crises, with weary leaders resigned to live with President Bashar Assad ruling over a wrecked and divided country for the foreseeable future. On the eve of the global gathering in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that a long-awaited committee that would draft a new Syrian constitution has been finalized - a step the U.N. hopes will put the war-ravaged country on track for a political solution. But few see any real chance that the committee can make significant progress toward that end. "The world has forgotten about us _ not that anyone cared about Syria to begin with, said Hussein Ali, a 35-year-old internally displaced father of two. He now lives with his family in one rented room in the opposition-controlled northern town of Azaz, near the Turkish border. "The rise of Daesh made the West care momentarily, but not anymore, he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. A FROZEN CONFLICT Most of Syria has returned to government control after eight years of war. The exceptions are the opposition-held bastion of Idlib in the northwest, where rebels, Islamic militants and their families from all over the country have been cornered, and the oil-rich northeast, held by U.S.-backed Kurdish groups. The violence has largely tapered off in most of the country, but few among the nearly 6 million refugees scattered across the globe have returned. Many fear detention if they come home _ or they simply have no homes to return to. Entire towns and villages are in ruins. The West will not contribute to reconstruction plans as long as Assad is in power and other countries are unwilling to invest without there first being a political settlement. In Idlib, a Russia-backed government offensive to recapture the province continues to claim lives. Hundreds have been killed and more than 400,000 displaced in the past four months under Syrian and Russian airstrikes. But the bloodshed hardly makes a dent in global news. "The world apparently has long since tired of the war, and resigned itself to frozen conflict, with a nationwide cease-fire as the best possible scenario, said Heiko Wimmen, project director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at International Crisis Group. Syria s conflict was a domino effect of the so-called Arab Spring uprisings that began in late 2010, toppling dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. What started in March 2011 as largely peaceful demonstrations against the Assad family rule turned into an armed insurgency following a brutal government crackdown. The conflict eventually became a proxy war pitting the U.S., Turkey and Gulf countries who supported the rebels, against Russia, Iran and Hezbollah who fought alongside the government. In the chaos, extremists such as the Islamic State group flourished, seizing a third of Syria and Iraq. Nearly half a million people have been killed and half of Syria s prewar population displaced. The opposition has been crushed for the most part, and Assad is widely considered to have prevailed militarily. IS militants who dominated the news for years have been defeated, although the group continues to stage sporadic insurgent attacks. A tentative cease-fire has been in place in Idlib since the end of August, but there is no suggestion it will be anything other than a pause before government troops and their allies regroup and relaunch their campaign. "The Syrian regime appears determined to clench back every last bit of territory, without the tiniest bit of compromise, Wimmen said. "As long as Damascus persists in its attitude, and is enabled by its foreign backers, the war will continue. DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS While the world remains deadlocked over Syria, there is no initiative on the horizon to help resolve it. The U.N. s current Syria envoy Geir Pedersen is the fourth to hold the post after the previous three resigned following years of mediating peace talks that led nowhere. The constitutional committee announced Monday is made up of 150 members divided equally among government, opposition and civil society members. It is tasked with drafting a new Syrian constitution in talks facilitated by the U.N. in Geneva. Desperate for a breakthrough, Guterres touted it as "the beginning of the political path out of the tragedy toward a solution. Syria is scheduled to hold presidential elections in 2021, and the U.N. hopes the talks can help create a climate and mechanism for holding a neutral and fair vote. But with a clear military upper hand, Assad s government is unlikely to offer any concessions, and Syrian officials have suggested he will run again. A Western diplomat called it an "important step in the sense that talks overseen by the U.N. would provide some form of international scrutiny over the balloting. "It will not be a solution for the war but rather a method to get a Syria platform going and try to be more inclusive than the two-side indirect talks, the diplomat said, referring to several rounds of talks between the government and the opposition in Geneva overseen by the U.N. envoy. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. Underlining the distrust, Syrian lawmaker Safwan Qurabi said the committee is "sensitive and is also dangerous. "What is planned through this committee is to steal Syria s political decision, which they couldn t do through destructive military action, Qurabi said, referring to the opposition and their foreign supporters. FAR FROM OVER While the violence may have diminished, analysts say the war is likely to continue for a long time. At its height, the conflict unleashed a global migrant crisis that continues to reshape Europe and neighboring countries that once opened their borders to millions fleeing war. That reception has chilled over the past year. Suffering an economic downturn and rising unemployment, the mood in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan has soured, and calls for the refugees to return home are growing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country can no longer shoulder the burden of 3.6 million refugees it hosts, and earlier this month, he threatened to "open the gates and allow a flood of Syrian refugees to leave Turkey for Western countries unless a so-called "safe zone is established in Syria soon in negotiations with the U.S. The rising resentment against Syrians seems to be behind a new wave of migrants sailing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos every day. Erdogan used his speech at the U.N. on Tuesday to highlight the humanitarian cost of the war by holding up a photo of Aylan Kurdi, a 3-year-old boy whose lifeless body was found on a Turkish beach in 2015 and drew the world s attention to the plight of refugees. Erdogan said the world must "never forget the world s "baby Aylans. An all-out Syrian government offensive to recapture Idlib, which seems inevitable, will likely have disastrous consequences, pushing hundreds of thousands of people toward the Turkish border. "Assad won t go away, since pushing him out is no longer an option, but neither is rehabilitating him, or rebuilding the country in his presence, Wimmen said. "The status quo of misery will likely persist.

"Collaborators not welcome" reads a roadside placard in southern Lebanon, where debate has flared once again over the return of thousands who collaborated with Israel s 22-year occupation. The warning stood next to the road leading to Qlayaa, a village nestled among lush, green fields and flowing olive groves. It was once a bastion of the South Lebanon Army, a Christian-led militia allied to Israel and opposed to the now-dominant Shiite Hezbollah movement. When the Israeli army withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, thousands of SLA members and their families chose to cross the border too and settle in Israel or elsewhere. In Qlayaa, those residents who remain don t like to talk to journalists, and many homes are abandoned. "There s more than 100 of them that are shuttered up," says one man, refusing to give his name. "Entire families left and we haven t heard from them since." When they die, "only a few bodies get repatriated to be buried in the village," he says. For some, including Hezbollah supporters, SLA members are traitors. Others, mostly from Christian parties, say they are exiles who should be allowed to return.