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UN Syria envoy expects peace talks to resume next week

Sunday, 06 March 2016 2:03 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 06 March 2016 2:02 AM ]

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura checks his watch as he delivers a speech on March 3, 2016 in Geneva as the cessation of hostilities in Syria entered its sixth day. AFP

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave at the beginning of a political transition, not at the end. The insistence on Assad's removal comes as Saudi Arabia’s Western supporters have backed away from calls for regime change following the victories of the Syrian army.
The UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura says he expects the long-delayed Syrian peace talks to start next week. He noted that the talks will be conducted indirectly, not face-to-face. The US and Russia called for the negotiations between Damascus and opposition groups to start as soon as possible.
The European Union urges Turkey to respect media freedom a day after Turkish police seized opposition newspaper Zaman and raided its headquarters in Istanbul. E-U’s diplomatic service said Turkey, as an E-U candidate country, needs to respect and promote high democratic standards and practices.
The Taliban have refused to resume peace talks with the Afghan government. The militant group has set preconditions including an end to the US-led occupation and the release of all Taliban detainees. Direct talks between the militants and the Afghan government were due to start in Pakistan in early March.
Greeks have taken to the streets to express solidarity with thousands of refugees stranded across the country. The protesters marched on the E-U offices in the capital Athens. They demanded better living conditions for about 32-thousand refugees stuck across Greece and its islands.
The Ukrainian army has lost two soldiers in clashes with pro-Russian militias in the east. The fresh violence came after talks between Russia and Ukraine over the crisis yielded no breakthrough. The two sides reached no consensus on elections in militia-held regions.
U-S voters are picking their favorites in the presidential primaries and caucuses held across five states. Voters in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maine are casting their ballots for four Republican candidates. Democrats are making their presidential picks in the states of Kansas, Louisiana, and Nebraska.
Colombia has reported more than 47-thousand and-700 cases of Zika virus. This is so far the largest number of cases in Latin America after Brazil. The rapid spread of the mosquito-borne virus, which can cause serious birth defects, has raised the alarm.

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