London / AFP Paramilitary groups and government forces in Iraq have tortured, arbitrarily detained and executed thousands of civilians escaping areas controlled by the IS group, Amnesty International warned Tuesday. The London-based rights group said the abuses, often revenge attacks directed at Sunnis suspected of being complicit with IS, must not be repeated as Iraqi forces advance on the jihadists’ …

  Dhaka / AFP A Bangladeshi radical party allied to the opposition has elected a new chief untainted by war crime allegations, seeking to turn the page after the execution of several of its top leaders. Jamaat-e-Islami said in a statement late Monday it had sworn in former school teacher Maqbul Ahmed as its leader after a secret ballot of party …

  Aden / AFP The United Nations has announced a new ceasefire in war-ravaged Yemen from early Thursday, after a week of escalated fighting sparked new international calls to end the conflict. While President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government and its Saudi backers said they would support the truce, there has been no word from the Iran-backed rebels who control the …