RUSSIA: Prosecutors asked a Moscow court yesterday to jail former economic development minister Alexei Ulyukayev for 10 years after he was found guilty of soliciting a £1.5 million bribe from his boss.

Mr Ulyukayev was arrested at the headquarters of national oil firm Rosneft last year in a sting operation by the FSB intelligence agency.

He denied the charges and said Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, had set him up.

PAKISTAN: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi yesterday to urge stronger action against Taliban guerillas allegedly crossing the border with Afghanistan at will.

“Engagement is there,” Mr Abbasi said, adding that the authorities “need to move forward with [the] issues at hand.”

Before his trip to Islamabad, Mr Mattis said: “We have heard from Pakistani leaders that they do not support terrorism. So I expect to see that sort of action reflected in their policies.”

QATAR: Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was set to fly to Kuwait today for a Gulf Co-operation Council summit — along with the leaders of three neighbouring states blockading his small country.

Kuwait and the US have mediated in the six-month standoff between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which accuse Doha of supporting terrorist groups and regional rival Iran.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani voiced hope that “all parties involved do not need a Western party to intervene.”

MALTA: Ten suspects have been arrested over the October 16 car-bomb murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

Ms Caruana Galizia, whose reporting implicated Mr Muscat and others in offshore tax-dodging, was killed when a bomb destroyed her car near her home.

Her family have accused the government of trying to sabotage the investigation.