The world in brief

Russia: Syria peace talks pushed back

MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the next round of Syrian peace talks in Geneva would be postponed until late February.

The U.N.-mediated talks in Switzerland, previously set for Feb. 8, will instead take place by the end of the month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in opening a meeting in Moscow with state-approved representatives of the Syrian opposition.

He did not explain the postponement.

Rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad declined an invitation from Lavrov to meet in Moscow, raising doubts that the meeting could offer something beyond another discussion panel on the nearly 6-year-old conflict.

But several factions led an opposition delegation to talks with Russian and Turkish officials this week in Kazakhstan, as well as indirect talks with Syrian government representatives, in an attempt to shore up a shaky Dec. 30 cease-fire with Assad’s forces.

Those talks, which put the armed rebel factions face to face with Assad’s representatives for the first time, ended Tuesday with an agreement among Russia, Turkey and Iran — all with forces deployed to the war-torn Mideast nation — to consolidate the truce, take joint action against extremist groups and jump-start peace negotiations.

Netanyahu grilled 3rd time in graft case

JERUSALEM — Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the third time as part of a corruption investigation into allegations that he improperly accepted gifts and tried to trade favors with an Israeli newspaper.

The Haaretz newspaper and other outlets said Netanyahu was questioned Friday. Most details of the spiraling case have emerged from media reports.

Police are interrogating the prime minister over allegedly receiving gifts from high-powered Hollywood and business figures, and separately over secret talks with the publisher of Yediot Ahronot, a major Israeli newspaper, seeking positive coverage in exchange for diminishing impact of a free pro-Netanyahu daily in 2014.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, portraying the accusations as a witch hunt against him and his family by a hostile media opposed to his hard-line political views.

3 nations agree to rail passport checks

BRUSSELS — Belgium has sealed an agreement with France and the Netherlands to draw up passenger lists and introduce passport checks on Thalys and Eurostar international rail services.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon told the VRT broadcaster Friday that the move will tighten security on the high-speed trains and help track criminals who might be using them.

“The aim is to have the system operational by the end of the year,” Jambon said.

He noted that Germany has decided not to take part.

“If the system works, they can join in,” Jambon said, noting that “there is an election coming up in Germany. Maybe that has something to do with [their decision].”

Belgium, the Netherlands and France are part of Europe’s 26-nation Schengen passport-free area, where ID checks on travelers do not usually take place.

The passports policy will not be enforced on regular international rail and bus services.

Teach Koran, extremists warn schools

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Heavily armed Islamic extremists forced their way into schools in northern Burkina Faso this week, ordering teachers to stop instructing in French and instead focus only on Islam and the Koran, the country’s security minister said Friday.

The government of this former French colony deployed soldiers to Baraboule commune, where the incidents occurred, and surrounding areas near the border with Mali, Simon Compaore told journalists. He declined to say how many.

“There can be no question of obeying injunctions of people who are without faith or law and who know only one thing: to sow death and desolation,” Compaore said.

There were no reported casualties in the occurrences at the schools, but Moumouni Tamboura, a primary school teacher in the nearby town of Djibo, said teachers were too scared to work in the current “atmosphere of terror.”

Last month, extremists killed 12 soldiers in an attack on an army barracks in the northern town of Nassoumbou, 160 miles from Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.

That attack was claimed by Ibrahim Dicko, a radical preacher whose fighters are believed to be based in Mali.

Jihadists continue to stage attacks in northern and central Mali four years after the French military led an intervention to drive them out.

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