Bloomberg Kuwait’s ruler is stepping up his efforts to resolve one of the worst crises among Gulf Arab monarchies, a day after Saudi Arabia and its allies isolated Qatar by cutting off air and sea transport and closing the small nation’s only land border. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah was to travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to mediate an end …

Bloomberg US-backed forces in Syria have begun the long-anticipated push to remove IS from their self-declared capital of Raqqa. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and its partners launched their offensive on Tuesday, the US Central Command said in an emailed statement. Raqqa was among the first cities captured by IS, also known as IS, and has been a base for …

Bloomberg IS claimed responsibility for a hostage-taking in the Australian city of Melbourne that left a gunman and another person dead and three police officers injured. Following a standoff at an apartment building, officers shot dead 29-year-old Yacqub Khayre on Monday evening after he came out and fired a sawn-off shotgun at police. He captured a woman he’d arranged to …