Sanaa / AP A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Shiite rebels on Wednesday killed the deputy chief of staff of the country’s military in a major blow to the US-backed Saudi-led coalition, which heavily supports the government, officials said. The SABA news agency, which is controlled by the Houthi rebels, said their forces struck the vehicle of Brig. Gen. …

  LONDON / AP A suicide bomber who attacked a military base in Iraq this week was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed in 2004 after Britain lobbied for his release, raising questions about the ability of security services to track the whereabouts of potential terrorists. The IS group identified the bomber as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, and two British security …

  BEIRUT / AP Talks to reunify ethnically-split Cyprus suffered another blow after the leader of breakaway Turkish Cypriots backed out of a scheduled meeting aiming to push negotiations forward, officials said on Wednesday. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades expressed regret that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci told United Nations officials that he won’t attend Thursday’s meeting. “I’m ready to continue …