Politics

  Kunduz / AFP Afghan forces were conducting clearing operations in Kunduz early on Tuesday, warning that Taliban militants were hiding in civilian homes after an hours-long assault on the city repelled with the help of NATO air support. Helicopters hovered over the strategic provincial capital and special forces were stationed in the main square, but with fighting still in the ...

  Washington / AFP Donald Trump’s presidential hopes suffered a punishing new setback as authorities clamped down on his charitable foundation, while Hillary Clinton seized the offensive to brand him an unscrupulous businessman. With just five weeks to go before the November 8 election, Trump is seeking to climb out of one of the darkest periods of his White House campaign ...

  Berlin / AFP WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed on Tuesday to publish new “significant” documents related to the US presidential elections ahead of the November 8 vote, as the online leaking platform celebrated its 10th birthday in defiant mood. Taking aim at critics accusing him and his organisation of manipulation, Assange pledged he would not be muzzled as he sought ...

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar on Tuesday scrapped a law used by the former military government to silence political activists, which threatened jail for anyone who endangered public morality or execution for damaging telephone lines. The Emergency Provisions Act, passed in 1950 after Myanmar won independence from Britain, became the military’s weapon of choice to silence dissent during its half ...

  London / AFP Ten countries accounting for 2.5 percent of world GDP are hosting more than half the world’s refugees, Amnesty International said on Tuesday as it slammed what it called the selfishness of wealthy nations. In a report on the plight faced by the world’s 21 million refugees, the London-based human rights body lamented that countries immediately neighbouring crisis ...

  Strasbourg / AFP The European Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed the ratification of the Paris climate deal, in a vote attended by UN chief Ban Ki-moon that paves the way for the landmark pact to come into force globally. The vote of 610 for, 38 against and 31 abstentions puts the European Union on track to hand over its ...

  Beirut / AFP At least 21 Syrian rebels fighting alongside Turkish troops in northern Syria against the IS group were killed by landmines laid by the extremist group, a monitor said on Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll was the highest loss of life for forces involved in the Turkish-led operation in northern Syria since ...

  Tripoli / AFP Forces loyal to Libya’s unity government said on Monday at least 80 extremists were killed at the weekend in the city of Sirte, a former stronghold of the IS group. “Commanders of front line units have counted at least corpses (of extremists) killed as they tried in vain to attack behind the lines” of the loyalists, ...

  Rabat / AFP Moroccan police have arrested 10 women who had allegedly pledged allegiance to the IS extremist group and planned to carry out suicide bombings across the country, authorities said on Monday. The all-female cell had “tried to obtain the chemicals used to make explosive belts” and were planning to attack “vital installations”, the interior ministry said. The women ...

  Ramallah / AFP The Palestinian high court on Monday ordered municipal elections to be held only in the West Bank and not in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, though a new date for the suspended polls was not set. The ruling could bring to an end hopes that the municipal elections would be the first polls since 2006 in which ...