Politics

  Baghdad / AFP A fire tore through the maternity ward of one of Baghdad’s largest hospitals on Wednesday, killing at least 11 premature babies, medical and security sources said. Health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudeini said the blaze at the Yarmuk hospital in west Baghdad was started by an electrical fault just after midnight (2100 GMT Tuesday). “Twenty-nine women patients …

  Nusa Dua / AFP Charities that send financial aid to trouble spots sometimes have the funds “hijacked” by militant groups to carry out attacks, an international counter-terrorism meeting was warned on Wednesday. A report by Indonesian and Australian authorities detailed the risk faced by non-profit organisations. It also urged countries in the region to cooperate more closely to halt …

  Berlin / AFP Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is preparing to unveil a slew of new anti-terror measures, reports said on Wednesday, after two attacks in July claimed by the IS extremist group. The new measures to be announced Thursday include speeding up the expulsion process for asylum seekers convicted of crimes, Bild daily reported, quoting anonymous security …

  Saint Petersburg / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday looked to rebuild ties as they met for the first time since Ankara downed one of Moscow’s warplanes in November. Erdogan’s visit to Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg is also his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that …

  Aden / AFP Air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition have forced Al-Qaeda fighters out of a key town in southern Yemen, a security official said on Tuesday. “Al-Qaeda militants have withdrawn from Azzan, the second city in Shabwa province, after coalition raids targeted their gatherings in the city” on Monday night, the official said. A resident said by telephone …

  Paris / AFP France will supply 30 military helicopters to Kuwait in a deal worth over one billion euros ($1.1 billion) that French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian signed in the Gulf state on Tuesday. The agreement to buy the versatile Airbus Caracal helicopters is part of a 2.5 billion euro package of deals that the two countries agreed …

  Washington / AFP The US-led military effort against the IS group started exactly two years ago, aimed at halting the extremists as they swept across Iraq, leaving a trail of human butchery and destruction in their wake. It was supposed to have been a swift and narrow campaign that would help local forces deal a “lasting defeat” to IS …

  Quetta / AFP A Taliban suicide bomb packed with ball bearings tore through a Pakistani hospital on Monday and killed at least 70 people, as witnesses described tearful staff rushing towards the smoking blast site to help the wounded. The bomber struck a crowd of some 200 people gathered at the Civil Hospital in the Balochistan provincial capital Quetta …

  Beirut/ AFP Syrian regime forces and rebel factions sent hundreds of reinforcements to Aleppo on Monday as opposition fighters announced an all-out offensive to take the country’s second city. The battle for Syria’s former economic powerhouse is intensifying after an opposition advance at the weekend broke through a three-week government siege of the city’s rebel-held east, dealing a major …

  Tehran / AFP Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rumoured to be planning a political comeback, has asked Barack Obama to return $2 billion of assets frozen in the US in a letter made public on Monday. Ahmadinejad wrote that despite early promises by the US president to improve ties with Iran “the same hostile policies along with the same …