Washington / AFP The death rate among Afghan security forces is surging far above last year’s levels, a US government watchdog said Sunday, and slew of social gains in the war-torn nation is also eroding. Afghan forces are nearing the end of their second year providing security across their war-torn country, after NATO moved into an advisory and training ...

  Didymoteicho / AFP “I want to go back to Syria. There is war in my country, but we’ve been living for seven months in Greece like prisoners.” Adan, from Aleppo, has abandoned his dream of building a new life in Europe, like thousands of other Syrians trapped in Greece. He’s just arrived at the station in Didymoteicho, a village near ...

  Miami / AFP Donald Trump stepped up his attacks against Hillary Clinton, seeking to exploit the FBI’s decision to reopen an investigation into her emails, as America’s bruising election campaign heads into its final stretch. Just 10 days before the country goes to the polls to elect either the former US secretary of state or the bombastic Republican billionaire, ...

  Caracas / AFP Ex-Soviet Moldova went to the polls on Sunday in its first popular presidential election since the 1990s, seen as a tug-of-war between supporters of closer relations with Russia and those seeking EU integration. The crisis-hit country of 3.5 million wedged between Ukraine and Romania is the poorest in Europe and has struggled with a string of ...

  Seoul / AFP The woman at the heart of a lurid political scandal engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-Hye returned to the country on Sunday to face accusations of influence-peddling and meddling in state affairs. With just over a year left to run, Park’s presidency has unravelled over shocking revelations that she discussed and sought advice on government policy from ...

  Manila / AFP Chinese coastguard ships are still patrolling the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea but are not stopping Filipinos from fishing there, a Philippine defence spokesman said on Sunday. The information — from fishermen who have just returned from the shoal — came despite earlier Philippine government statements that the Chinese had left the outcrop they ...

  Reykjavik / AFP Iceland on Sunday faced a wrangle over its next government after the anti-establishment Pirate Party and its allies gained ground but fell short of a majority in snap elections. Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told the national broadcaster RUV he would resign on Sunday after his Progressive Party suffered a plunge in support. Polls had predicted ...

  Astana / AFP Three astronauts landed safely in Kazakhstan on Sunday following a 115-day mission aboard the the International Space Station, including US astronaut Kate Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space. Russian mission control confirmed the touchdown of NASA’s Rubins, Roscosmos’ Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at 0358 GMT. The ...

  Bloomberg Apple isn’t the first to add GPS functionality to a smartwatch, but it’s the first to make something that feels like a running watch. And the company is doubling down on that with a Nike edition, while Nike is bringing features from its phone app directly to all models of Apple Watch. THE IMPORTANCE OF GPS The original ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. embraced a new strategy for selling external monitors to professional users by launching new large, high-resolution screens with LG Electronics Inc. The new displays were highlighted by Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on stage during the company’s Mac-focused press conference at its Cupertino, California, headquarters. The monitors come in 21.5-inch and 27-inch sizes, with 4K ...