Politics

  Istanbul / AFP Turkish authorities have fired over 10,000 additional civil servants as the government presses a crackdown over the failed July coup, the official gazette said. A total of 10,131 government employees were removed, mainly from the education, justice and health ministries, according to announcements published late on Saturday. The government also announced the closure of 15 pro-Kurdish and ...

  Frankfurt / AFP The IS extremist group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Hamburg on October 16 that left a teenager dead, IS-affiliated news agency Amaq reported. “A soldier of the IS stabbed two individuals in Hamburg city on the 16th of this month,” the release said, in response to “calls to target the citizens of coalition countries” that ...

  Beirut / AFP French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian heads to the Central African Republic on Sunday to formally end Operation Sangaris, begun three years ago to halt mass killings there but which failed to disarm militias terrorising the population. The formal end to the French mission comes as a fresh wave of bloodshed shook the troubled nation, spearheaded ...

  Washington / AFP The death rate among Afghan security forces is surging far above last year’s levels, a US government watchdog said Sunday, and slew of social gains in the war-torn nation is also eroding. Afghan forces are nearing the end of their second year providing security across their war-torn country, after NATO moved into an advisory and training ...

  Didymoteicho / AFP “I want to go back to Syria. There is war in my country, but we’ve been living for seven months in Greece like prisoners.” Adan, from Aleppo, has abandoned his dream of building a new life in Europe, like thousands of other Syrians trapped in Greece. He’s just arrived at the station in Didymoteicho, a village near ...

  Miami / AFP Donald Trump stepped up his attacks against Hillary Clinton, seeking to exploit the FBI’s decision to reopen an investigation into her emails, as America’s bruising election campaign heads into its final stretch. Just 10 days before the country goes to the polls to elect either the former US secretary of state or the bombastic Republican billionaire, ...

  Caracas / AFP Ex-Soviet Moldova went to the polls on Sunday in its first popular presidential election since the 1990s, seen as a tug-of-war between supporters of closer relations with Russia and those seeking EU integration. The crisis-hit country of 3.5 million wedged between Ukraine and Romania is the poorest in Europe and has struggled with a string of ...

  Seoul / AFP The woman at the heart of a lurid political scandal engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-Hye returned to the country on Sunday to face accusations of influence-peddling and meddling in state affairs. With just over a year left to run, Park’s presidency has unravelled over shocking revelations that she discussed and sought advice on government policy from ...

  Manila / AFP Chinese coastguard ships are still patrolling the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea but are not stopping Filipinos from fishing there, a Philippine defence spokesman said on Sunday. The information — from fishermen who have just returned from the shoal — came despite earlier Philippine government statements that the Chinese had left the outcrop they ...

  Reykjavik / AFP Iceland on Sunday faced a wrangle over its next government after the anti-establishment Pirate Party and its allies gained ground but fell short of a majority in snap elections. Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told the national broadcaster RUV he would resign on Sunday after his Progressive Party suffered a plunge in support. Polls had predicted ...