Moscow / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin is to hold his first phone call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan since Ankara downed one of Moscow’s warplanes in Syria, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation would take place on Wednesday at the “initiative of the Russian side” after the Turkish strongman sent a letter …

  Tehran / AFP Eleven Kurdish rebels and three of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in clashes near the Iraqi border, the Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. “A group of 11 counter-revolutionaries linked to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), who were attempting to infiltrate the country were immediately detected… and were eliminated after 10 days of …

  Baghdad / AFP An Iraqi court has dealt a blow to Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi’s efforts to replace a cabinet dominated by entrenched political parties, invalidating the session that approved new ministers. But it also settled the issue of whether parliament speaker Salim Al Juburi retains his job—a question that had resulted in two rival claimants to the …