Berlusconi starts comeback bid

STRASBOURG • Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi,81, took his comeback bid to the European Court of Human Rights yesterday.

The four-time premier has been banned from holding office for six years - imposed after his 2012 conviction for tax fraud.

He is hoping the court will overturn the ban before Italy's next general election due before May.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

US approves first 2-drug HIV treatment

WASHINGTON • The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first two-drug regimen to treat HIV, the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or Aids.

The move aims to lessen the side effects of current treatments, which combine three or four medicines.

The new treatment is a fixed-dose once-daily tablet combining two drugs - dolutegravir and rilpivirine - approved earlier.

REUTERS

Egypt orders arrests of 29 spy suspects

CAIRO • Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the detention of 29 people suspected of spying for Turkey, and joining a terror group, state news agency Mena reported yesterday.

According to a probe by the General Intelligence Services, the group has been recording phone calls and passing information to Turkish intelligence services, as part of a plan to bring the Muslim Brotherhood back to power in Egypt.

REUTERS