Aden / AFP The pro-government Arab coalition on Sunday stepped up air strikes on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and clashes raged on the ground as warring parties ignored a UN call to renew a fragile ceasefire. The 72-hour ceasefire took effect just before midnight (2100 GMT) on Wednesday to allow aid deliveries in Yemen, whose war has killed thousands ...

  Aden / AFP Yemen’s government announced on Sunday that nine people had died of cholera in second city Aden as the infectious disease spread across the war-torn country. Ten other people in the southern port city have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease which is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, the health ministry said. ...

  Arbil / AFP US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan on Sunday to review the ongoing military offensive to retake the extremist bastion of Mosul. As the Pentagon chief went into talks with Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, US officials said Kurdish peshmerga forces had almost reached their goals in the week-old offensive. The battle ...