The beleaguered Syrian city of Aleppo looks set to be the flashpoint for a further escalation in the conflict there, as Iranian ground troops backed by Russian airstrikes target “insurgents” in support of the Assad regime.

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WORLD

Israel is moving to seal off areas of East Jerusalem in an effort to keep control amid recent violent unrest.

https://twitter.com/aenewsline/status/654215025872240640

Ah yes, that’ll do the trick…

At last night’s Democratic Presidential debate in Las Vegas, front-runner Hillary Clinton gave a typical, self-confident performance, making us think why, exactly, she doesn’t want to have any more debates.

This is just creepy…

Bernie Sanders probably had the soundbite of the night, but it maybe didn’t come across as he intended – or perhaps it did.

Ankara’s police and intelligence chiefs have been dismissed following the weekend’s horrific bomb attack on Kurdish peace demonstrators.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and still-new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn face off again on Wednesday for PMQs.

https://twitter.com/sonofspeke/status/653332518993793024

Finally, what day would be complete without a dolphin-related analysis of foreign policy?

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BUSINESS

The latest Chinese growth data – expected to be 6.8 per cent, the weakest since 2009 – is prompting fresh concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Meanwhile, the FT reports that China is set to issue sovereign debt in renminbi in London, the first bond issue in the currency outside of China.

The plan is to issue Chinese Treasury bonds in renminbi in London after laying the foundations with launches of short-term debt by the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, the officials said.

The scheme is likely to be a key announcement in the visit of Xi Jinping, the president, to the UK next week, they added. It will be hailed as a breakthrough by Mr Xi’s British hosts, who are preparing to give the communist party leader a five-star welcome in an effort to gain an edge over the European rivals in attracting Chinese investment.

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CULTURE

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SPORTS

The Chicago Cubs’ history-making post-season run continues, as the team that has gone longest since winning baseball’s World Series took another step towards this year’s Fall Classic by beating the St Louis Cardinals 6-4 to clinch a berth in the NLCS. It is the first time in the team’s history the Cubs have won a post-season series at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs will now face the winners of Thursday’s Game Five between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

And veteran sportswriter Roger Angell weighs in on that controversial Chase Utley slide.

I shuddered at the Utley–Tejada collision, and felt bad about its result, but couldn’t separate it in my mind from many dozens of similar events over the years, in and around second base. Deposed, I would offer that the crash looks frightening mostly because Tejada, beginning a pirouette for a too-late peg to first, has his back turned to the base runner at the moment of impact. Utley came in hard and slightly high, off to the right of the bag, his right shoulder colliding with Tejada’s left leg and upending him; in continuation, his upper inside right thigh, near the crotch, encountered Tejada’s planted right leg. The flying, skidding force of the slide breaks bone, down near the ankle. Because Tejada is looking away, we see only his number, 11, on his back, and the scene looks like a truck-vs.-pedestrian shocker caught by a back-alley security camera. If Tejada is looking toward the base runner, by contrast, it’s a debatable hard takeout bang but still baseball.

For Mets fans, though, Utley is, well…