Politics

  BENGHAZI / AP Libyan armed forces based in the east launched more airstrikes against militias that seized oil terminals a day earlier, a spokesman said, accusing troops from the country’s rival west of launching a war. Three strikes hit vehicles and targets in the area around the al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf terminals, where at least nine soldiers were killed ...

  DUBAI / AP Bahrain on Sunday approved a constitutional change allowing military courts to try civilians, the kingdom’s latest rollback on reforms made after its 2011 Arab Spring protests that likely will stoke an ongoing government crackdown on dissent. Activists warn the amendment will allow an undeclared state of martial law on the island near Saudi Arabia that’s home ...

  BEIRUT / AP A UN humanitarian agency says some 66,000 people have been displaced in five months of fighting in Syria’s crowded northern battlefield. Turkish, Syrian government, Syrian opposition, and autonomous Kurdish-led forces have all been jostling for territory formerly held by the IS group near the Turkish-Syrian frontier, as preparations are being made to attack the extremists’ de ...

  SRINAGAR / AP Anti-India protests erupted in Indian-controlled Kashmir following a fierce gunbattle in which two rebels and a counterinsurgency policeman were killed, police said Sunday. Government forces, acting on a tip, encircled a civilian home in the southern Tral area overnight, said police chief S.P. Vaid. He said fighting erupted after militants hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi troops encountered the “heaviest” clashes yet with IS group fighters Sunday in western Mosul since the start of the new push more than two weeks ago, according to a senior commander. Maj. Gen. Haider al-Maturi of the Federal Police Commandos Division told The Associated Press that IS militants dispatched at least six suicide car bombs, ...

  PALM BEACH / AP The White House demanded on Sunday that Congress investigate whether former President Barack Obama abused his executive powers in connection with the 2016 presidential election. President Donald Trump leveled that claim on Saturday when he accused his predecessor of tapping telephones at Trump Tower. But Trump offered no supporting evidence, a spokesman for Obama denied ...

  MANILA / AP The Philippine defense chief and two other Cabinet members on Saturday toured a US aircraft carrier patrolling the disputed South China Sea on the invitation of the Navy, US Embassy officials said. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II visited the USS Carl Vinson along with three Philippine security ...

  PRISTINA / AP The European Union’s foreign policy chief has urged Kosovo’s opposition to ratify a border demarcation agreement with Montenegro, the last remaining condition before its citizens enjoy visa-free travel with Europe’s Schengen member countries. Federica Mogherini was in Kosovo, the last stop on her tour of the Western Balkans, where she met senior leaders on Saturday. She ...

  AMMAN / AP Jordan on Saturday executed 10 prisoners with ties to militant groups who carried out five shootings and a bombing since 2003, the government spokesman said. It was the largest round of executions in the kingdom in recent memory. Among those killed in the attacks were a British tourist, an outspoken Jordanian critic of extremism and members ...

  TEHRAN/ AP Iran successfully test-fired a sophisticated Russian-made air defense system, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday. The report said the test of the S-300 system came during a recent military exercise named Damvand, the name of Iran’s highest mountain. It said the test targeted various flying objects including missiles. With a range of up to 200 ...