INTERNATIONAL

The chief negotiator of Syria’s main opposition umbrella group, Mohammed Alloush, has resigned over what he called the failure of peace talks. Mr Alloush, from the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said the talks had not brought a political deal or eased the plight of Syrians in besieged areas. The HNC suspended its involvement in the UN-brokered “proximity” negotiations with a ...

Up to 700 migrants are feared drowned in a series of shipwrecks off the coast of Libya in the last few days, the UN refugee agency says. The boats sank south of Italy on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the migrants tried to reach Europe in unseaworthy vessels. Spring weather has led to a surge of people attempting the perilous ...

The German airline, Lufthansa, has announced that it will suspend flights to Venezuela from 18 June due to economic difficulties in the country. The company also said currency controls in Venezuela made it impossible for airlines to convert their earnings into dollars and send the money abroad. Venezuela’s economy has been hit hard by a sharp drop in the price ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has rejected a call to move or postpone this summer’s Rio Olympic Games over the Zika outbreak. It said this would “not significantly alter” the spread of the virus, which is linked to serious birth defects. In an open letter to the WHO, more than 100 leading scientists had said new findings about Zika made ...

Supporters and opponents of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have clashed in the city of San Diego in California. Police declared a gathering outside the city’s convention centre unlawful and made 35 arrests, as stones and water bottles were thrown. Mr Trump was in the city near the Mexican border to hold a rally ahead of the 7 June California ...

Barack Obama has become the first serving US president to visit Hiroshima since the World War Two nuclear attack. Mr Obama said the memory of 6 August 1945 must never fade, but did not apologise for the US attack – the world’s first nuclear bombing. Mr Obama spoke to two survivors and in an address called on nations to pursue ...

US President Barack Obama is to visit Hiroshima on Friday, where the US dropped the world’s first nuclear bomb. The visit, after the G7 summit, will be the first to the Japanese city by a serving US president. Mr Obama has said he will not be issuing an apology for the nuclear attack, but will honour all those who died ...

A declaration at the G7 meeting in Japan says a vote by the UK to leave the European Union would pose a “serious threat to global growth”. In their final statement, the group warned that a UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend of increased global trade, investment and jobs. The meeting brings together the world’s leading seven ...

The US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has reached the number of delegates needed to secure the party’s presidential nomination, Associated Press reports. Its delegate count has him reaching the quota thanks to a small number of the party’s unbound delegates. They told AP they would support him at July’s Republican convention. Mr Trump, who defeated 16 other Republican contenders, ...

Indonesia has toughened its punishments for child rapists to include the death penalty and chemical castration. It follows outrage over several recent violent crimes, including the gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. President Joko Widodo said the regulation was “intended to overcome the crisis caused by sexual violence against children”. Previously, the maximum sentence for rape, of either an ...