Politics

  Tehran/ AFP Iran denied reports from Washington that it played a part in failed missile attacks on US naval vessels off Yemen, saying on Thursday that the claims were “false and paranoid”. “The vague and contradictory remarks by American officials these past days are false, paranoid and inappropriate,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told the official IRNA news agency. ...

  Qayyarah / AFP Iraqi forces prepared to retake the country’s largest Christian town from the IS group on Wednesday, a key milestone in their progress towards the extremists’ main hub of Mosul. News of the move to recapture Qaraqosh sparked jubilation among Christians who had fled the town, with many dancing and singing in the city of Arbil. Launched on ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia has accused Belgium, a member of a US-led coalition fighting extremists in Syria, of killing six civilians in air strikes in the Aleppo region but the claim was swiftly denied by Brussels. “Six people were killed and four people injured to various degrees as a result of bombing that destroyed two homes” in the village of ...

  Moscow / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with the leaders of Turkey and Iraq about battle for Mosul, where Iraqi forces are fighting to oust the IS group, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Putin “wished the Iraqi army and its allies complete success in their objectives,” the Kremlin said in a statement on his conversations with Turkish ...

  Aden / AFP Heavy fighting rocked Yemen hours before a UN-brokered ceasefire was due to begin on Wednesday, as warring parties come under mounting pressure to end a conflict that has raged for more than two years. The truce will be the sixth attempt to end the bloodshed. Civilians have paid the highest price in a country that was ...

  Donetsk / AFP Thousands of pro-Russian rebels and supporters in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday turned out to bid farewell to notorious rebel commander Arseny Pavlov, who was killed in a weekend bombing. Some 5,000 people queued outside Donetsk’s opera theatre to pay last respects to the 33-year-old Russian, known as “Motorola”, who died Sunday when a homemade device exploded ...

  Kabul / AFP Two Americans including a civilian were killed on Wednesday when a gunman opened fire near a NATO base in Kabul on Wednesday, the military coalition said, with Afghan officials calling it an “insider attack”. No insurgent group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which highlights growing insecurity in Afghanistan as the Taliban step up their ...

  Tehran / AFP Iran said on Wednesday it would accept no US “interference” after Washington demanded the release of a dual national and his 80-year-old father given 10 year sentences for espionage. The State Department demanded the immediate release of Siamak and Baqher Namazi, both Iranian-American dual nationals, after their sentences were announced on Tuesday. But foreign ministry spokesman ...

Las Vegas / AFP Democrat Hillary Clinton and rival Donald Trump wade into their last presidential debate on Wednesday with the Republican candidate spiraling downward in the polls amid allegations of sexual misconduct and wild charges of a “rigged” US election. With less than three weeks to go before Americans cast ballots November 8, polls showed Clinton widening her lead ...

  The Hague / AFP Police forces from 52 countries arrested over 300 people and swooped on red-light districts to bust several trafficking gangs in a week-long, round-the-clock operation, Europol said on Wednesday. The action led by the European police agency focused “on disrupting the most dangerous criminal networks currently active” including those dealing in illegal immigration, people and drug ...