Yasmeen Altaji gives a round-up of today’s trends
Trending Middle East
Battle for Aleppo and and French-Saudi conference on Palestine
This is trending your daily rundown of news from the Middle East and around the world brought to you by The National. From Abu Dhabi, I Niasmi Naltaji, here are today's headlines. Residents fleeing Syria's second largest city Aleppo say the final route out of the province has been blocked. It follows the capture of the town of Khunasad by militants on the last motorway linking the city with southern towns. Syrian military troops said they recaptured the town amid heavy fighting, but the road remains closed as violence intensifies. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that he and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would co-chair a conference on the establishment of a Palestinian state. Mr Macron said, "In the coming months, together we will multiply and combine our diplomatic initiatives to bring everyone along this path." He said he would recognize a Palestinian state, quote, "at the right moment" and at a time when it triggers reciprocal movements of recognition, unquote. In South Korea, an emergency martial law order issued by the President Yun Sukyo was rescinded on Wednesday after protesters gathered outside the parliamentary building and politicians voted to block his action. Mr Yun had said he was declaring martial law to protect, quote, "a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements," unquote. He did not mention any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, but focused instead on his domestic political opponents. That's all for this morning's headlines. You can get these stories at our site and visit the nationallose.com/podcasts for more like this.