Politics

  TEHRAN / AP Iran’s navy began an annual drill on Sunday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, its first major exercise since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, state television reported. The TV report quoted navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari as saying the two-day maneuver will cover an area of 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles) in the ...

  KABUL / AP Springtime in Afghanistan usually brings a spike in violence as the Taliban takes advantage of the thaw to launch a wave of fresh attacks. But the Taliban’s leader has just issued a statement calling on Afghans to plant more trees. In a public letter issued on Sunday in four languages, including English, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada says that, ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi militarized police captured two neighborhoods on the western side of Mosul on Sunday amid fierce clashes with IS militants, as thousands of people continued to flee the battle to government-controlled areas, security officials said. Iraqi forces, backed by aerial support by the US-led international coalition, launched a new push last week to drive IS militants from ...

  WASHINGTON / AP The Pentagon wants to expand the military’s ability to battle al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia, potentially putting US forces closer to the fight against a stubborn extremist group that has plotted attacks against America, senior US officials said. The recommendations sent to the White House would allow US special operations forces to increase assistance to the Somali National ...

  Moscow / AFP A convicted Russian opposition activist who says he was tortured in prison was freed on Sunday and has vowed to keep up the fight for human rights in Russia. Ildar Dadin was released from his jail in the remote Altai region in southern Siberia after Russia’s Supreme Court annulled his 2½-year sentence last week because of procedural ...

  NEW DELHI / AP India’s top diplomat will visit Washington this week for talks with the new US administration, an Indian foreign ministry official said on Sunday. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is expected to discuss with American officials India’s concerns over proposed US legislation that could make it harder for companies to replace American workers with those from India and ...

  BEIRUT / AP Twin attacks on two Syrian security offices in the central city of Homs Saturday killed at least 32 people, including a senior security official who heads the feared Military Intelligence services, state media and officials reported. An al-Qaida-linked insurgent coalition known as the Levant Liberation Committee claimed responsibility for the attacks, which also left another high-ranking ...

  SOUTH OF MOSUL / AP Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul on Saturday amid stiff resistance from entrenched IS fighters, a commander on the scene said. Special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said that his troops are “moving very slowly” and that IS fighters are responding with car bombs, snipers and dozens of armed drones. Hundreds of civilian ...

  ANKARA / AP Turkey’s prime minister has officially launched his ruling party’s campaign for a “yes” vote in a referendum on ushering a presidential system, which critics fear will concentrate too many powers in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Binali Yildirim formally got campaigning going on Saturday telling supporters in a sports arena that the proposed new ...

  BERLIN / AP Angela Merkel’s conservatives have formally nominated the German chancellor as her party’s top candidate for the September parliamentary election in the region where she has her political base. The dpa news agency reported that Merkel won the support of 95 percent of delegates at a convention of the Christian Democrats’ branch in northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state ...