Politics

  Riyadh / AFP Twelve people have been arrested in southern Saudi Arabia on suspicion of belonging to a Yemeni rebel group fighting the kingdom, a newspaper reported on Thursday. They were detained during a wide-ranging crackdown in the border region of Najran, Al-Riyadh newspaper said. “The campaign also resulted in the arrest of 12 Yemenis suspected of belonging to ...

  Riyadh / AFP Thousands of Yemenis protested on Thursday against a UN plan to end a 19-month conflict between rebels and the government, which the president rejected as “not a map for peace.” Protesters in Aden rallied against the plan following a call by authorities in the southern city, which is serving as a temporary capital as Sanaa remains ...

  Karachi / AFP At least 21 people have been killed and dozens more injured after two trains carrying hundreds of passengers collided in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi during morning rush hour on Thursday, officials said. Witnesses described watching in horror as one train sped into the city’s Quaidabad Railway Station and rammed into the second, which was stationary, ...

  Islamabad / AFP Pakistan on Thursday accused eight Indian embassy employees of involvement in spying and terrorism but stopped short of expelling them, in the latest apparent tit-for-tat move as relations between the two countries nosedive. The declaration came days after a similar move by New Delhi, which accused six Pakistani diplomats of being part of a spy network, ...

  Sydney /AFP The reclusive leader of the IS group broke a nearly year-long silence as Iraqi forces closed in on Mosul on Thursday, urging his extremists to hold their ground. It was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s first statement since Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where the IS chief declared the group’s “caliphate” two ...

  Pretoria / AFP US Marines are using Super Cobra attack helicopters to mount close-range airstrikes against IS militants in the Libyan city of Sirte, the US navy said on Thursday. The gunship attacks, the first of their kind to be confirmed in over two months, were launched overnight from the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dock ship deployed ...

  Athens / AFP Russia seeks “honest cooperation” for a political solution in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday as Moscow declared a brief truce in the war-ravaged city of Aleppo. “We hope our partners will draw (the) necessary conclusions (so that) we will all aim for honest cooperation… for a political process involving both the government and opposition ...

  Moscow / AFP Amnesty International said on Wednesday that Russian authorities had sealed off its office in Moscow and changed the locks with no warning or explanation. “Staff found the office was sealed around 10 am (0700 GMT). The organisation had not received any warning and the premises was sealed in their absence,” the rights group wrote on its website. ...

Ankara/ AFP Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi of weakness as tensions rose on Wednesday after Ankara deployed tanks and artillery near Iraq. Abadi had warned Ankara not to provoke a confrontation and said any invasion would see Iraq’s northern neighbour repelled after Turkey sent the 30-vehicle convoy to the southeastern district of Silopi on Tuesday. ...

  Calais / AFP French authorities on Wednesday started moving out the remaining 1,500 unaccompanied children living next to the razed “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais to shelters around the country. A first bus carrying 43 minors left the area around 8:30 am (0730 GMT) for the southwest, rapidly followed by a second one. More than 30 buses have been ...