BAGHDAD / AP Iraq’s elite counterterrorism forces say they have entered the center of a strategically important western Islamic State-held town. Government forces reached the center of Hit on Wednesday. The operation to retake the small Euphrates river town — initially launched last month — was stalled by politics, heavy IS resistance and tens of thousands of trapped civilians. Iraqi …

Brussels / AFP Gone are the usual snap-happy crowds on Brussels’ famed Grand Place, visits to the Atomium monument have plummeted and hotel rooms are empty. Two weeks after the Belgian capital was hit by terror attacks, the country’s tourist industry is in despair. As Belgium struggles to move on from the March 22 IS suicide bombings that struck Brussels …

Hanoi / AFP Vietnam’s parliament approved Nguyen XuanPhuc as the communist country’s new prime minister on Thursday, handing him a five-year term and a range of tough challenges from domestic economic reforms to a simmering maritime dispute with China. Phuc, a former deputy prime minister, was the only candidate nominated for the position by party officials earlier this year and …