UNITED NATIONS / AP The Syrian government committed “slow-motion slaughter” of unknown numbers of Syrians trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas by willfully denying them food and health care, according to a new report on Tuesday from a civil rights group. Physicians for Human Rights says in the report that the Syrian government consistently exploited a new UN aid …

  MANILA / AP Libya’s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an assault by land, air and sea on Tuesday to retake two of the country’s key oil terminals, as fighting threatens to escalate in the holder of Africa’s largest crude reserves. Fighters were deployed near Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, according to three military sources who asked not to …

  MOGADISHU V/ AP Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia, local officials and an expert said on Tuesday, the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel on the crucial global trade route since 2012. The reported seizure on Monday of the Aris 13 came as a surprise to the global shipping industry as patrols …