Nawaran/AFP Kurdish forces launched a major assault on Thursday on a town held by the IS group near Mosul, opening a new front in the offensive to wrest back the extremists’ last Iraqi bastion. Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi told an international meeting in Paris that the offensive was “advancing faster than expected” as it entered its fourth day. France …

  Jakarta / AFP Indonesian police shot dead a man carrying knives and suspected pipe bombs after he launched a daylight assault on officers near Jakarta on Thursday, an official said, in an attack later claimed by the IS group. The man was shot three times as he stabbed wildly at officers on a busy intersection in Tangerang, a satellite …

  Aden /AFP Scattered clashes between rebels and pro-government forces undermined a fragile ceasefire in Yemen on Thursday as global pressure intensified for a lasting truce in a country where millions are homeless and hungry. The ceasefire, for an initial period of three days, took effect shortly before midnight on Wednesday under a United Nations plan which aims to allow …