Jerusalem/ AFP Israel closed off the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on Sunday for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the army said, as concerns rose over whether visits to a sensitive holy site could lead to violence. The restrictions barring Palestinians from entering would remain in place through Monday, but humanitarian cases would be allowed passage, said an army ...

  Dhaka / AFP Security was tightened in a Bangladesh southern city on Sunday ahead of the expected execution of a senior extremist whose group has been linked to the murder of foreign hostages, police said. Asadul Islam, a leader of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) who is also known as Arif, is due to hang in Khulna after the Supreme ...

  Beirut / AFP Turkish-backed rebels captured the emblematic northern Syrian town of Dabiq from the IS group on Sunday, dealing a major symbolic blow to the extremists. The defeat for IS came as US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to meet European allies in London as part of a new diplomatic push to end Syria’s conflict, which ...