Aleppo/ AFP Syrian opposition fighters launched a major assault on government-held districts of Aleppo city on Monday after the regime severed their only remaining supply route into the city. The multi-front assault was also reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor. The attack was accompanied by a barrage of rocket fire into the regime-held west …

  Beijing / AFP A tropical storm in China left six people dead and at least eight more missing, reports said, after it lashed Taiwan with typhoon-grade winds and rain. Super Typhoon Nepartak brought chaos to Taiwan Friday, forcing more than 15,000 people to flee their homes as part of the island saw its strongest winds in over a century. …

  BAGHDAD / AFP Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said on Monday that Washington will deploy 560 additional troops to aid Iraq’s fight to retake Mosul from extremists, further deepening US military involvement in the country. The announcement, which will bring the total authorised number of American military personnel in Iraq to more than 4,600, came two days after Baghdad announced …