Kathmandu / AFP After enduring endless blackouts in Nepal’s months-long and ongoing national fuel crisis, management consultant Pankaj Shrestha finally splurged on a set of solar panels for his home in Kathmandu. “First there was no cooking gas available, so we bought an electric cooker. But then there was no electricity, so how could we cook anything?” the 52-year-old asked. …

Baghdad / AFP The United Nations launched an appeal on Sunday for $861 million in international humanitarian assistance to help millions of people in Iraq who are suffering from war and displacement. Violence including the devastating war with the IS extremists group has displaced 3.3 million Iraqis in the past two years, while some 250,000 Syrians have fled to Iraq …

Brussels / AFP Belgium has charged three people with trying to go to Syria and join extremists there, press reports said on Sunday. Police arrested four people on Saturday after raids in Jumet, near the southern city of Charleroi, on suspicion that they planned to go to either war-torn Syria or Libya. The reports said one person had been released …