The US and Japan are the biggest members of the massive trade deal BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: A Pacific-wide trade deal would be “meaningless” without the United States, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday, as Donald Trump vowed to abandon the agreement on his first day in office. The future of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been thrown into serious doubt after the US president-elect repeated a pledge to... 

DAMASCUS, SYRIA: US President Barack Obama said he is “not optimistic” about Syria’s future, as the UN warned time is running out to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo which has been pounded by air strikes for nearly a week. More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began Government forces launched a ferocious assault last Tuesday to recapture eastern Aleppo, killing 115 civilians so far. In fresh...