Politics

  Bartalla / AFP Iraqi special forces threw themselves back into battle on Saturday after a first foray into Mosul was blunted by stiffer than expected resistance from extremists defending the birthplace of their “caliphate”. While the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) fought the IS group in the streets of Mosul, the army and federal police attacked one of the last sizeable ...

  Kabul /AFP US forces conceded on Saturday that its air strikes “very likely” resulted in civilian casualties in Afghanistan’s volatile Kunduz province, pledging a full investigation into the incident which triggered angry protests. The strikes early Thursday killed at least 30 people, many of them children, after a Taliban assault left two American soldiers and three Afghan special forces ...

  Kano / AFP The Nigerian military said on Saturday it had rescued another of the missing Chibok schoolgirls near the border with Cameroon. “Nigerian army troops rescued another Chibok schoolgirl at Pulka” on Friday evening, army spokesman Sani Usman said, adding he would give details of the rescue operation later. Pulka is outside the town of Gwoza in Borno state ...

  Washington / AFP After Iraqi security forces eventually recapture Mosul, the IS group will be left with only Raqa in neighboring Syria as a bastion, and the extremists’ self-proclaimed “caliphate” will be largely gone. The US-led coalition has been striking IS across both countries for more than two years, and has long held Raqa in its sights —an IS ...

Rome / AFP Two Italians and a Canadian who were kidnapped in the south of conflict-torn Libya in September have been released and flown to Italy, the Italian government announced on Saturday. The Italians, Danilo Calonego, 66, and Bruno Cacace, 56, and Canadian Frank Poccia were freed during the night “due to the effective cooperation with local Libyan authorities,” it ...

  Istanbul/ AFP An Istanbul court on Saturday ordered the imprisonment of nine staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, in an intensifying crackdown a day after the leaders of the country’s main pro-Kurdish party were also jailed. The arrests added to growing international alarm over the use of a state of emergency implemented in the wake of the failed July 15 ...

  Diyarbakir / AFP A news outlet linked to the IS said its fighters staged a bombing that killed 11 people in southeastern Turkey, according to US-based monitors, after Ankara blamed Kurdish militants for the attack. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday’s bombing was carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has regularly targeted security forces since ending ...

  Kunduz / AFP A NATO airstrike killed at least 30 Afghan civilians, including women and children, on Thursday in the volatile northern province of Kunduz, officials said, after a Taliban assault there left two American soldiers dead. The airstrike, which occurred early Thursday, triggered emotionally-charged protests in the provincial capital, with the victims’ relatives rallying outside the governor’s office while ...

  Moscow / AFP President Vladimir Putin signed off on Thursday on a decree granting Russian citizenship to US action hero actor Steven Seagal, the latest high-profile passport handout to a Western celebrity. Hollywood star Seagal and judo-loving Kremlin tough guy Putin have struck up a bromance in recent years, with Seagal visiting Russia repeatedly and defending Moscow’s 2014 annexation of ...

  Jakarta/ AFP Indonesian police on Thursday offered prayers for peace and called for unity ahead of a massive protest by Muslim hardliners against Jakarta’s governor that authorities fear could turn violent. The much-hyped rally, planned for Friday, is expected to draw tens of thousands to the streets of the Indonesian capital in protest against governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian ...