SYRIA: Foreign minister Faisal Mekdad began a three-day official visit to Tunisia on Monday meant to restore diplomatic relations that have been cut off since 2012 following the civil war in the country.

Mr Mekdad had a meeting with Tunisian counterpart Nabil Ammar shortly after his arrival on Monday evening. No details were disclosed about the talks and Mr Mekdad’s schedule for the rest of his visit.

CHINA: A fire at Beijing Changfeng Hospital in China today left 21 dead with dozens more evacuated, Chinese media reported.

The fire has been extinguished and rescue work has been completed and the cause of the fire is under investigation, the reports said.

MEXICO: Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, lashed out on Monday at what he called “spying” and “interference” in his country by the United States.

This comes days after US prosecutors announced charges against 28 members of the Sinaloa cartel for smuggling massive amounts of fentanyl into the US.

Amlo said the case had been built on information gathered by US agents operating in Mexico, and said “foreign agents cannot be in Mexico.”

The president called the Sinaloa investigation “abusive, arrogant interference that should not be accepted under any circumstances.”

NIGERIA: Thousands of travellers were stranded in Nigeria on Monday as airport union workers began a two-day strike demanding better working conditions.

The strike caused flights to be cancelled as employees from across seven unions in Nigeria’s aviation industry blocked access to the country’s largest airports, in Lagos and the capital, Abuja.