Hasansham Camp / AFP Years of life under extremist rule and war have left thousands of Iraqi children old beyond their years and in desperate need of playtime to overcome their trauma. Malak, 11, says she has “come back from hell”. She huddles in a long black coat at the Hasansham displacement camp where thousands of people have lived since …

  Paris / AFP The UN’s cultural agency called for emergency measures on Thursday to prevent further looting at the historic Iraqi city of Nimrud which has been wrecked by IS militants. Nimrud, founded in the 13th century BC on the Tigris river about 30 kilometres southeast of Mosul, was retaken by Iraqi forces on November 13 after it was overrrun …

  Juba / AFP Despite a brief truce, hopes for peace have crumbled in South Sudan as its civil war hits the three-year mark with ethnic violence only getting worse and no end in sight. “South Sudan’s war continues to escalate and engulf more and more of the country,” said Alan Boswell, an independent analyst, who expects further major offensives with …