WASHINGTON / AP US businesses boosted their orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in January by the largest amount in three months, but a key category that tracks business investment plans slipped. Orders for durable goods rose 1.8 percent in January after two months of declines, the Commerce Department said. The strength stemmed from a big surge in demand for …

  Bloomberg Turkey is seeking US support to lead a ground offensive against IS main stronghold in Syria, a Turkish official said, a move that could give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more influence in the conflict and undermine Kurdish groups linked to separatists he’s fighting at home. Troops and Syrian rebels loyal to Ankara would advance on Raqqa through areas …

  BEIRUT / AP Syrian government forces and their allies from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached the outskirts of Palmyra in their push to drive IS militants from the ancient town, activists said on Tuesday. The advancing forces reached the town’s southwestern gateway, located about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from its famed Roman ruins, according to the activist-run Palmyra Coordination …