Politics

Damascus / AFP Pro-government forces pushed a fierce bid to recapture Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra from extremists on Thursday as Moscow hosted top US diplomat John Kerry for talks on the fraught peace process. The IS group called on civilians still living in Palmyra to leave, as army and pro-government militia battled the extremists on several fronts along the ...

Brussels / AFP Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam wants to be extradited to France “as soon as possible” to face charges following his arrest in Brussels, his lawyer said on Thursday. Asked if his client had prior knowledge about Tuesday’s suicide bombings at Brussels airport and on a metro train, lawyer Sven Mary said in English: “He didn’t know it.” ...

United Nations / AFP The UN Security Council should keep its military liaison office open in Dakhla, Western Sahara, to avoid setting a dangerous precedent, a UN official said. The world body said on Tuesday it had closed the office at Morocco’s request and withdrew three military observers posted there. It was the latest twist in a running dispute between ...

BAGHDAD / AP The Iraqi military backed by US-led coalition aircraft on Thursday launched a long-awaited operation to recapture the northern city of Mosul from IS militants, a military spokesman said. In the push, Iraqi forces retook several villages on the outskirts of the town of Makhmour, east of Mosul, early in the morning on Thursday and hoisted the Iraqi ...

Hanoi / AFP Vietnam on Thursday hit back at Taiwan for taking international media on a tour of a disputed island in the South China Sea, saying the “illegal and worthless” trip had further raised tensions in the hotly contested waters. Taiwanese officials on Wednesday took journalists to Taiping, the largest island in the Spratlys chain, which it controls and ...

Tripoli / AFP It was meant to finally bring an end to Libya’s political chaos and unrest, but the creation of a new UN-backed unity government has only added to the country’s disarray. Desperate to resolve years of political deadlock that has allowed extremists to gain an important foothold on Europe’s doorstep, the United Nations and Western powers have been ...

Geneva / AFP No foreign power should be permitted to interfere in the ongoing Syrian peace talks in Geneva, the lead government negotiator said, denying that high-level US-Russian meetings in Moscow will impact the process. “When we say that the dialogue must be between Syrians, without outside intervention, this also applies to the Russians and Americans,” Bashar Al Jaafari said. ...

Aden / AFP A US air strike on an Al Qaeda training camp in southeastern Yemen killed at least 40 militants, a provincial official and a tribal source said on Wednesday. Another 25 militants were wounded in the Tuesday strike on the camp in Hajr, west of the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, the provincial official said. The Pentagon had spoken ...

Beirut / AFP Three suspected IS members arrested in Turkey were planning attacks on Germany’s diplomatic missions or schools in the country, which were closed last week over a terror threat, Turkish media reported on Wednesday. The three men—a Turk, an Iraqi and a Syrian—were arrested in Istanbul on Tuesday by police acting on information from both Turkey’s and Germany’s ...

Naypyidaw / AFP Taiwan on Wednesday gave its first ever international press tour of a disputed island in the South China Sea to boost its claim, less than two months after a visit by its leader sparked protests from rival claimants. Taiping is the largest island in the Spratlys chain and is administered by Taiwan, which sees it as part ...