Luanda / AFP Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol rode the commodities boom that drove the country’s extraordinary growth after civil war ended in 2002, but today it symbolises a national economic crisis. The Luanda-based company has increasingly been in focus since Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of long-time President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, was appointed CEO in June. …

  Qayyarah / AFP Iraqi paramilitary forces battled the IS group southwest of Mosul on Sunday, the second day of an operation to cut extremist supply lines between the city and neighbouring Syria. Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been advancing on Mosul from the north, east and south after the launch on October 17 of …

  Istanbul / AFP Turkish authorities have fired over 10,000 additional civil servants as the government presses a crackdown over the failed July coup, the official gazette said. A total of 10,131 government employees were removed, mainly from the education, justice and health ministries, according to announcements published late on Saturday. The government also announced the closure of 15 pro-Kurdish and …