Syria’s foreign minister has said Damascus is ready to offer a prisoner exchange with rebels. Speaking in Moscow, Walid Muallem also said he had presented a ceasefire plan for the second city Aleppo to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. The moves came as the opposition Syrian National Coalition prepares to meet in Istanbul to decide whether to go to next week’s peace conference. The coalition is under Western pressure […]

China has long been the factory floor that churns out popular gadgets for companies world-wide, but the country’s own technology products were rarely viewed as leading edge. Now, that is beginning to change. Increasingly, China’s own technology companies are challenging market leaders and setting trends in telecommunications, mobile devices and online services. Keeping better-known global competitors at bay in their massive home market, they are hiring Silicon Valley executives and […]