Politics

Jerusalem / AFP Israeli security forces demolished the West Bank homes of three Palestinians early Monday who killed an Israeli officer and seriously wounded another in Jerusalem in February, the military said. In February’s attack outside Jerusalem’s Old City, according to Israeli authorities, three Palestinian men in their early 20’s drew rifles and knives and attacked two female officers during ...

Gaza City / AFP Gaza fishermen have begun working further off the coast after Israel relaxed restrictions for the first time in a decade but said on Monday that the measure was not nearly enough. Palestinian boats working in the southern part of Gaza Strip started to fish as far as nine nautical miles off the coast on Sunday, the ...

BAGHDAD / AP Militants unleashed on Monday a wave of suicide attacks across Iraq, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens, officials said. The deadliest attack took place in the southern province of Dhi Qar when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a restaurant that is frequented by Shiite paramilitary militia fighters, killing at least 14 people. Another ...

Beirut / AFP Air strikes have killed several Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front members including its spokesman and regime forces have retaken a strategic town from the IS group in the latest setbacks for extremists in Syria. Abu Firas Al Suri, whose real name was Radwan Nammous, fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan where he met Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and ...

Rome / AFP Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will travel to Iran next week for a two-day trip that will make him the first major leader to visit since the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran. Renzi’s office said in a statement on Monday that the centre-left premier would be in the Islamic Republic on April 12 and 13, without ...

Belgium / AFP Brussels Airport reopened on Sunday with three “symbolic” flights and strict additional checks for passengers, marking a new high-security era for air travel in Belgium after attacks by IS suicide bombers. The key travel hub has been closed since two men blew themselves up in the departure hall on March 22 in coordinated blasts that also struck ...

Sydney / aFp A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Vanuatu, but a tsunami threat passed with no immediate reports of major damage along the coasts of the Pacific archipelago. The quake, initially reported as 7.2 magnitude, struck at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles), 81 kilometres north-northwest of the town of Port Olry on Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu ...

Istanbul / AP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he took offence at US President Barack Obama slamming eroding press freedoms in Turkey, expressing sadness that the comments were made behind his back. “I am saddened that these kinds of comments have been made in my absence,” Erdogan told Turkish reporters in Washington as he rounded off a ...

Washington / AFP US presidential primaries spark back to life on Tuesday after an eventful 10-day break with clear frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both facing the real possibility of losing in Wisconsin. Defeat in the north-central state isn’t likely to immediately change the course of the overall nominating contest, but it could serve as an indicator of the ...

Colombia / AFP Tens of thousands of people protested in more than 20 cities across Colombia against President Juan Manuel Santos and his government’s peace process with the FARC guerrillas. The demonstrations come just days after Bogota launched peace talks with the country’s second-biggest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), setting its sights on a total end to a ...