Politics

  Tehran / AFP Eleven Kurdish rebels and three of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in clashes near the Iraqi border, the Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. “A group of 11 counter-revolutionaries linked to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), who were attempting to infiltrate the country were immediately detected… and were eliminated after 10 days of ...

  Baghdad / AFP An Iraqi court has dealt a blow to Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi’s efforts to replace a cabinet dominated by entrenched political parties, invalidating the session that approved new ministers. But it also settled the issue of whether parliament speaker Salim Al Juburi retains his job—a question that had resulted in two rival claimants to the ...

  Baghdad / AFP A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Sunni mosque near Baghdad where worshippers were gathered for prayers, killing at least nine people, officials said on Tuesday. The attack on the mosque in Abu Ghraib, which also wounded at least 28 people, took place during evening prayers on Monday as Muslims mark the holy fasting month of ...

  Iraq / AFP When her five-year-old son asked her to kill him because he was too hungry, Umm Issam knew she would never come back to Fallujah if she was able to leave. Iraqi forces on Sunday wrapped up operations in Fallujah and declared the area free of extremists of the IS group after a month-long operation. The government ...

  New Delhi / AFP Bangladesh police have charged seven people including a senior opposition official over the murder of an Italian aid worker last September, an officer said on Tuesday. The killing near the capital’s diplomatic zone was the first in a wave of attacks to be claimed by the IS group, and was followed days later by the ...

  Gaza City / AFP Palestinian movement Hamas has thanked Turkey for its efforts on behalf of Gazans in a weekend reconciliation deal with Israel but urged it to increase pressure for an end to a decade-old blockade. In its first reaction to the agreement, Hamas expressed its “thanks and gratitude to Turkish President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan” and the Turkish ...

  Madrid / AFP Spain’s ruling conservatives made a fresh push on Monday to form a government and unblock months of political paralysis after emerging stronger from another inconclusive general election. The Popular Party (PP) was the big winner of Sunday’s elections, the second in six months, which played out against a background of turbulence from Britain’s shock vote to leave ...

  Bangkok / AFP Activists on Monday urged Britain to hand over details of the multi-million-dollar sale to Thailand of fake bomb detectors that led to the detention of scores of innocent people. British fraudster Gary Bolton was jailed in 2013 for making millions selling the GT200—which he billed as a “magic wand” able to detect tiny particles of explosives ...

  France / AFP Voters in western France gave the go-ahead on Sunday to a controversial airport development that has been at the centre of a years-long battle between environmental activists and the government. The local referendum on the new Nantes Atlantique airport passed with a 55 percent majority, ending a 50 year argument that saw the government’s environment advisers ...

  London / AFP Britain’s opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted he would not give up his job in a Labour Party revolt over his handling of the EU referendum campaign, as the aftershocks from the “Leave” vote reverberate around the country. Eleven members of the veteran socialist’s top team resigned Sunday, blaming him for failing to rally the party’s core working-class ...