Muscat /AFP US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks on Monday with officials in Oman on efforts to end Yemen’s 19-month conflict, state media in Muscat said. Kerry and Oman’s Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi discussed the “peaceful and humanitarian role played by the sultanate in Yemen,” ONA state news agency reported. Kerry is also expected to meet …

  Arbid / AFP The IS group drone hovered in the sky over the advancing Iraqi forces before dropping a grenade, the extremists’ latest move to weaponise small off-the-shelf aircraft. Down below, the grenade exploded on the roof of a building where Iraqi police forces were sheltering as they advanced some 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Mosul, the last …

  Islamabad/AFP The Pakistani military accused India on Monday of killing seven soldiers in cross-border fire in disputed Kashmir, in what appeared to be an unusually high toll after months of surging tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours. “Seven soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) at the Line of Control (LoC) in Bhimber sector in a crossfire LOC violation by Indian troops late …