UN begins major evacuation in Syria as peace talks falter

ZABADANI: The UN began evacuating hundreds of people from besieged Syrian towns in a rare sign of humanitarian progress, as the US Air Force for the first time deployed a B-52 bomber against the militant Islamic State (IS) group. In Geneva, where UN-brokered peace talks have faltered as a fragile ceasefire has come under strain, the Syrian government meanwhile said it was pushing on with indirect negotiations, calling the opposition’s freeze on taking part “absurd theatre”. The anti-government High...