Caracas / AFP Venezuela’s embattled government and opposition leaders agreed on Monday to hold extended talks aimed at defusing the nation’s increasingly tense political crisis. Vatican representative Claudio Maria Celli said in statement that the two sides have agreed to a “national dialogue plenary meeting” beginning next month. The two sides will meet on November 11, officials announced Monday, after …

  Chisinau / AFP Moldova’s presidential election is set to go to a second round, preliminary results showed on Monday, after the leading pro-Russian candidate failed to secure an outright win in the ex-Soviet state. Moldova went to the polls Sunday in its first popular presidential election since the 1990s, seen as a tug-of-war between supporters of closer relations with Russia …

  Bartalla / AFP Iraqi special forces advanced on the eastern city limits of Mosul on Monday, tightening the noose as the offensive to retake the IS group stronghold entered its third week. Elite counter-terrorism forces were facing mortar fire as they pushed from the Christian town of Bartalla towards Mosul’s eastern suburbs, AFP correspondents at the front said. As an …