Najaf / AFP An attack claimed by the IS group on a police checkpoint in southern Iraq left at least seven people dead on Sunday, officials said. Gunmen wearing suicide vests and driving an explosives-laden vehicle opened fire on the checkpoint near the town of Qadisiyah, which lies around 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad. “The security forces fought ...

  Kinshasa / AFP The new year in one of Africa’s most troubled countries began in a burst of optimism on Sunday after rival groups agreed a deal for hauling DR Congo out of a perilous political crisis. Under a landmark accord, the country’s contested president, Joseph Kabila—who under the constitution should have left office on December 20—will stay in ...

  United Nations / AFP The new United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Sunday he would like to make 2017 a year to “put peace first,” in a message heralding the new year and marking his first day as the world body’s chief. The Portuguese former prime minister, 67, took over as UN Secretary-general from South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon, inheriting ...

  Washington / AFP President-elect Donald Trump again cast doubt on a US intelligence finding that Russia meddled in the US election through computer hacking, a conclusion that led to US sanctions against Moscow. “Well, I just want them to be sure, because it’s a pretty serious charge, and I want them to be sure,” Trump told reporters at his ...

  Hong Kong / AFP Thousands of protesters, chanting “Sovereignty belongs to the people!” marched through Hong Kong on New Year’s Day to protest at the government’s legal bid to unseat some pro-democracy lawmakers. The four popularly elected legislators, who led the rally, were the latest targets of a government move which pro-democracy parties describe as a witch hunt.It came after ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea’s impeached President Park Geun-Hye on Sunday repeated denials of involvement in a snowballing corruption scandal and said rumours have been “getting out of hand”, Yonhap news agency reported. “Rumours, stories and broadcasts have been distorted and false information has been getting out of hand,” she was quoted as telling reporters at the presidential Blue House. ...

  Kano / AFP One person was seriously injured when a suicide bomber aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year’s Eve attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, witnesses and aid workers said on Sunday. The girl approached a crowd buying noodles from a food vendor in the Customs area of the city around 9:30 pm on ...

  Nairobi / AFP Burundi’s environment minister was shot dead in the capital Bujumbura early Sunday, police said, the first killing of its kind since the country was plunged into political turmoil two years ago. Emmanuel Niyonkuru, 54, the country’s water, environment and planning minister, was killed shortly after midnight, according to a tweet sent by police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye. The ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Under the theme ‘A World as Big as Your Imagination’, the spirit of children’s collaboration has shone through in the artwork submissions received for the forthcoming Sharjah Children Biennial (SCB). Sharjah Children Centres announced receiving a total of 792 artworks from 1,663 children representing 27 Arab and foreign nationalities for the fifth edition of SCB. ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business University Hospital Sharjah (UHS) conducted its first cochlear implant procedure on an eight-year-old girl who was born with hearing difficulty, giving her the ‘gift of hearing’. After a two-week break to recover from the operation, the girl returned to the hospital for a follow up where the cochlear implant was activated for the first time ...