Politics

  United Nations / AFP The landmark Paris agreement on climate change moved closer to reality on Wednesday after 31 countries joined during the United Nations General Assembly. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced confidence that the accord, through which countries commit to take action to stem the planet’s rising temperatures, would come into force by the end of the year. ...

  Washington / AFP Iraqi security forces will be ready by next month for an assault on the IS stronghold of Mosul, the top general in the US military said on Wednesday. “We assess today that the Iraqis will have in early October all the forces marshaled, trained, fielded, equipped that are necessary for operations in Mosul,” General Joe Dunford, ...

  Caracas / AFP Venezuela accused the United States of spying on a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit it recently hosted, saying Venezuelan fighter jets had intercepted a US surveillance plane and forced it to turn back. President Nicolas Maduro’s latest beef with Washington comes after Venezuela hosted leaders from the 120-member group on the Caribbean island of Margarita last weekend, ...

  United Nations / AFP US President Barack Obama urged countries to “welcome the stranger in our midst” at a summit that drew pledges from 50 countries to take in 360,000 refugees. Speaking at a US-led refugee summit at the United Nations, Obama praised Germany and Canada among other countries for opening up their doors to those fleeing the war ...

  Kirkuk / AFP Iraqi forces launched an operation on Tuesday to retake a northern town from the IS group in the latest move to prepare a broad offensive on extremist bastion Mosul. Army and tribal forces pushed towards Sherqat, a town IS extremists took more than two years ago when they swept across Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland. The town ...

  Manila / AFP A pilot of a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight accidentally pressed a hijack alarm, triggering a major security response at Manila airport on Tuesday, authorities said. Police isolated and surrounded the Saudia flight after it landed on Tuesday afternoon just after one of its pilots released a distress signal indicating a hijack incident was underway, the Philippine ...

  New York / AFP Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton met Egypt’s president in New York as the two US presidential candidates tried to bolster their diplomatic credentials at the United Nations. Democratic standard-bearer Clinton said last week that she would meet Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, along with leaders from Japan and Ukraine on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. ...

  Abuja / AFP Two suspected Boko Haram attacks in northeast Nigeria have left up to 14 people dead and three soldiers wounded, the army and local residents said. On Monday afternoon, six people were killed in an ambush of a commercial convoy escorted by the military in the Sanda district of Borno state. “Suspected elements of the remnants of ...

  Amman / AFP Jordanians voted on Tuesday in an election that could see opposition Islamists re-emerge as a major parliamentary force in the key Western ally. The focus will be on turnout and the performance of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood. Experts expect the party to clinch around 20 seats in the ...

  Aleppo / AFP The United Nations suspended all humanitarian convoys in Syria on Tuesday following a deadly air strike on aid trucks, as fighting intensified after the regime declared an end to a week-long truce. Both Syria and Russia denied they were behind the raid on the convoy near northern city Aleppo, which the Red Cross said killed “around ...