Yangon / AFP The US embassy in Yangon said it was “deeply concerned” over clashes involving ethnic armed groups and the military in northern Myanmar that have displaced thousands of people, warning that the violence threatened to unravel the country’s delicate peace process. Heavy bouts of fighting broke out last week in Shan state between two ethnic rebel groups in …

United States / AFP Western powers rejected a Russian bid at the United Nations to halt Turkey’s military actions in Syria, as France warned of a dangerous escalation in the nearly five-year conflict. The emergency Security Council meeting came as US Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned there was “a lot more work to do” for a ceasefire to take …

Baghdad / AFP Sunni Arab tribesmen battled militants of the IS group in their Fallujah stronghold for a second day on Saturday in a major blow to the extremists in Iraq, officials said. Fallujah is one of two Iraqi cities still controlled by IS, but residents—said to number in the tens of thousands—vastly outnumber the estimated 300 to 400 extremists …