Qayyarah / AFP The battle to retake Mosul from the IS group is leaving a legacy of environmental damage and health risks that will pose dangers to people for years to come. Iraqis have already paid the initial price from burning oil wells and a sulphur factory that IS set alight south of Mosul, Iraq’s last extremist-held city which is …

  Beijing / AFP China has objected to the Dalai Lama meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee earlier this month, saying the talks had negatively impacted ties between the Asian neighbours. The Tibetan spiritual leader met with Mukherjee at the Indian presidential palace in New Delhi during a child welfare summit attended by Nobel laureates and world leaders on December 10-11. …

  Caracas / AFP Desperate Venezuelans looted delivery trucks and clashed with police as a botched plan to introduce new banknotes left people without cash—the latest shortage in a spiraling economic crisis. President Nicolas Maduro blamed opposition politicians for the unrest, claiming that there were pictures and videos of some opposition members of the National Assembly involved in “attempts of …