Politics

  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 ...

  Kiev / AFP Ukraine said on Wednesday it no longer had conscripted soldiers fighting pro-Russian insurgents for the first time since a conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives began in April 2014. The announcement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko comes as the former Soviet republic tries to form a fully professional army that can conform to NATO standards ...

  Karachi / AFP The death toll from an explosion and fire at a Pakistan shipbreaking yard has risen to 16, officials said on Wednesday, as a search continued for more victims. At least 59 others were wounded on Tuesday when a gas cylinder exploded and started a fire inside an oil tanker at the Gadani yard in the southwestern province ...

  Hong Kong / AFP Two lawmakers who want Hong Kong to split from China wrestled with security in parliament on Wednesday, with one of them dragged from the chamber and security staff left injured, as fears grow Beijing will step in over the saga. Widespread concerns that China is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city are fuelling an independence ...