Berlin / AFP Germany recorded around 16,000 new asylum seekers in May, almost unchanged from April, official data showed on Tuesday, after the closure of the key Balkans route slowed a record influx. Among the 16,281 asylum seekers who arrived in Germany in May, Syrians made up the biggest group at 2,685, followed by Afghans at 2,289 and 1,355 ...

  Beirut / AFP Russian-backed Syrian regime forces inched closerto a key stop on a vital IS group supply line, as a twin offensive bore down on the extremists’ northern stronghold. The advance comes as 17 civilians were killed in air raids on a popular market in eastern Syria on the first day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. ...

  Niamey / AFP Niger vowed to avenge the deaths of 26 of its soldiers who were killed by Boko Haram insurgents in one of the extremist group’s deadliest attacks in the country. “We must continue to fight, this insult must be expunged, there is nothing to be done, it must be avenged,” Defence Minister HassoumiMassoudou said. The minister was ...