BAGHDAD / AP A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle on Monday in a bustling market area in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people, Iraqi officials said, hours after the arrival of French President Francois Hollande to the country and amid a fierce fight against the IS group. The bomber driving a pickup truck attacked an outdoor fruit and ...

  JERUSALEM / AP Israeli media is reporting that police are expected to question Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a pair of corruption allegations. A black screen was placed on Monday in front of Netanyahu’s official residence in apparent anticipation of the police investigators’ arrival and to obstruct the view of journalists seeking to film them. Netanyahu has denied what ...

  KABUL / AP An Afghan official says that at least one police officer has been killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Logar province. Salim Saleh, spokesman for the provincial governor in Logar, said on Monday that four other people including a district police commander and three road construction engineers were wounded in the blast. Meanwhile at least six ...

  TEHRAN / AP Iranian state TV is reporting the country’s coast guard has detained 21 fishermen and their three boats from neighboring Arab nations for straying into its territorial waters and fishing rare species. The Monday report said the traditional boats, known as dhows, had entered Iranian waters near the country’s Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. It said ...

  Bloomberg IS claimed responsibility for the killing of 39 people celebrating the New Year inside a fabled Istanbul nightclub, an act of terrorism that has become grimly familiar in Turkey as it fails to keep the violence in Syria from spilling into its cities. Shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, an assailant killed a police officer guarding the entrance ...

  ABS, Yemen / AP As the first light of dawn trickles in through the hospital window, 19-year-old Mohammed Ali learns that his two-year-old cousin has died of hunger. But he has to remain strong for his little brother Mohannad, who could be next. He holds his brother’s hand as the five-year-old struggles to breathe, his skin stretched tight over tiny ...

  BEIRUT / AP Hundreds of civilians fled a mountainous region outside the Syrian capital, where government forces were battling several insurgent groups, including an al-Qaida-linked outfit excluded from a recent nationwide cease-fire. The Syrian military said some 1,300 people fled the Barada Valley region since Saturday. The region has been the target of days of airstrikes and shelling despite the ...

  Bloomberg State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, is predicting an acceleration in loan growth from a 25-year low after slashing borrowing costs to the lowest level in at least six years. The state-run lender cut lending rates based on the marginal costs of funds by 90 basis points across all tenures on Sunday. Other banks including Union ...

  Bloomberg Bank Hapoalim Ltd.’s credit-card unit may be valued at about $1 billion as the lender prepares to divest the business to comply with new Israeli regulations, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Tel Aviv-based bank and smaller rival Leumi Le-Israel Ltd are both meeting with investment banks about the sale of their credit card units, ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar’s second-largest bank by market capitalisation, said on Monday that it had decided to suspend the activities and licence of its brokerage business, Al Rayan Financial Brokerage Company. After obtaining the necessary approvals from regulatory authorities, the bank said the last date of trading for the company would be Jan. 12. All remaining ...