BEIRUT / AFP Iran and European planemaker ATR are due to sign a deal next week for the purchase of 20 short-haul passenger aircraft, an Iranian official said, weeks after Tehran finalised deals with Boeing and Airbus. ATR, co-owned by Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo Finmeccanica , in February reported preliminary orders from Iran for 20 twin-engine turboprop ATR 72-600 ...

  Bloomberg The rising number of single-person households in South Korea is helping to fuel a boom in neighborhood convenience stores, one of the few bright spots in the nation’s sluggish economy. The number of convenience stores has jumped by more than half over the past five years, to 32,000 this year, according to the Korea Association of Convenience Store ...

  Beijing / AFP Taiwan tech-giant Foxconn plans to build an $8.8-billion factory in China, state media said Saturday, amid reports its billionaire boss is cooling off on future US investments. Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, will spend the vast sum on an industrial complex in the sprawling southern city of Guangzhou. The factory will make large-screen liquid crystal displays ...

  Istanbul / AFP Thirty-nine people, including many foreigners, were killed on Sunday when a gunman went on a rampage at an exclusive nightclub in Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year. As police launched a dragnet for the assailant, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the carnage sought to sow chaos and undermine peace, but Turkey would never bow ...

  Riyadh / AFP Cross-border rebel fire from Yemen has killed a soldier in Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition fighting the insurgents in its war-torn neighbour, the interior ministry said. The soldier was killed on Saturday in the southern border area of Jazan as an army post came under a barrage of gunfire and shelling from the Huthi ...

  New Delhi / AFP The death toll from a mine collapse in eastern India’s Jharkhand state rose to 17 on Sunday as rescue workers continued to search for the bodies of six missing miners. A massive mound of earth caved in late Thursday at Lalmatia open cast mine, around 240 miles (390 kilometres) from the state capital Ranchi. “We ...

  Beirut / AFP Fighting in parts of Syria on Sunday threatened a shaky ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey, whose efforts to kickstart talks towards ending the conflict won backing from world powers. The nationwide truce between the regime and non-extremist rebels aims to smooth the way for peace talks in Kazakhstan later this month orchestrated by Damascus’s allies Moscow ...

  Jakarta / AFP A massive fire erupted in a boat carrying hundreds of local tourists to an island north of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Sunday, leaving at least 23 dead and 17 injured, officials said. Passengers panicked and jumped into the sea as flames and smoke rapidly engulfed the Zahro Express shortly after it left port to head to ...

  Mosul / AFP Frightened Iraqi civilians hurry down a muddy street in Mosul as gunshots echo through the neighbourhood and a helicopter wheels overhead, firing a barrage of bullets towards extremists below. Others choose to stay, hanging white flags from their homes and periodically peering out as Iraqi forces battle the IS group for control of the country’s second city. ...

  Najaf / AFP An attack claimed by the IS group on a police checkpoint in southern Iraq left at least seven people dead on Sunday, officials said. Gunmen wearing suicide vests and driving an explosives-laden vehicle opened fire on the checkpoint near the town of Qadisiyah, which lies around 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad. “The security forces fought ...