Politics

  Arbil / AFP The nephew of the governor of a key province where Iraqi forces are battling the IS group has been gunned down in the country’s north, officials said on Saturday. The shooting in Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil came just hours after Nowfal Al Aqoub, the governor of Nineveh, made controversial remarks about children being fathered by IS ...

  Islamabad / AFP Six crew members of a Pakistani government helicopter which crash-landed in Afghanistan’s volatile east have been released, an official said on Saturday, after they were taken hostage by the Afghan Taliban. The crew “was released in an inter-tribe exchange on the Pakistan-Afghan border (and) arrived in Islamabad today,” foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement. ...

  Aden / AFP Iran-backed rebels convened Yemen’s parliament on Saturday in defiance of the internationally recognised government, prompting condemnation from President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. The session in rebel-held Sanaa was the first in almost two years, and comes after the Houthis rejected a UN peace plan and appointed a council to run the country. Parliamentary sources said 91 lawmakers in ...

  Brussels / AFP Doctors in Syria’s Aleppo made a heart-wrenching plea on Thursday for the US to help civilians in the city, hit by fresh fighting despite a promised Russian aid window. A longtime ally of the regime in Damascus, Russia has provided air cover for pro-government forces for nearly a year, including in the escalating battle for Aleppo. ...

  Kandahar / AFP Fighting raged on Thursday in Helmand after Afghanistan rushed military reinforcements to beat back Taliban insurgents advancing on the besieged capital of the southern poppy-growing province, as officials downplayed fears the city could fall. Afghan forces fought back insurgents after they stormed Nawa district, just south of Lashkar Gah city, late on Wednesday, raising alarm that ...

  Brussels / AFP NATO said on Wednesday Turkey’s membership of the military alliance is “not in question” following the failed coup in July and stressed its “very clear position” of continued support for Ankara. “Turkey’s NATO membership is not in question,” spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement issued in response to “speculative press reports”. “NATO counts on the ...

  Sanaa / AFP Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched fresh air strikes on Shiite rebels across Yemen on Wednesday after the alliance said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at southern Saudi Arabia. The increased violence comes after UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between representatives of the government and Houthi insurgents ended without a breakthrough. A statement from the coalition ...

  Baghdad / AFP A fire tore through the maternity ward of one of Baghdad’s largest hospitals on Wednesday, killing at least 11 premature babies, medical and security sources said. Health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudeini said the blaze at the Yarmuk hospital in west Baghdad was started by an electrical fault just after midnight (2100 GMT Tuesday). “Twenty-nine women patients ...

  Nusa Dua / AFP Charities that send financial aid to trouble spots sometimes have the funds “hijacked” by militant groups to carry out attacks, an international counter-terrorism meeting was warned on Wednesday. A report by Indonesian and Australian authorities detailed the risk faced by non-profit organisations. It also urged countries in the region to cooperate more closely to halt ...

  Berlin / AFP Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is preparing to unveil a slew of new anti-terror measures, reports said on Wednesday, after two attacks in July claimed by the IS extremist group. The new measures to be announced Thursday include speeding up the expulsion process for asylum seekers convicted of crimes, Bild daily reported, quoting anonymous security ...