Kirkuk / AFP Iraqi special forces led an operation on Tuesday aimed at retaking the extremist-held town of Qayyarah, a key staging base for operations to attack Mosul, military sources said. Qayyarah lies on the western bank of the Tigris river, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, the IS group’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq. With the …

  Berlin / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Tuesday on the EU and North African countries to do deals modelled on a controversial agreement with Turkey to stem migrant flows to Europe. Under the EU-Turkey agreement, Ankara agreed to take back one Syrian who made it to Greece in return for being allowed to send one from its massive …

  Paris / AFP Seven people with links to terrorist networks, at least three of whom were planning attacks, have been arrested in France this month, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Tuesday. Cazeneuve said at a press conference that French police had arrested as many people for terror links in the first half of 2016 as for the whole …