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Baghdad / AFP US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter visited Baghdad on Monday for talks on stepping up the fight against the IS group in Iraq, where the US has deployed troops to fight the extremists. Carter’s visit comes after a week of political turmoil that has been a setback for Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, and the US defence ...

  SANAA / AP Yemen’s Shiite rebels backed out of UN-brokered peace talks just hours before the negotiations were to start on Monday in Kuwait, demanding an immediate halt to airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition that has waged a year-long war against them, officials said. It was not immediately clear if the negotiations were completely scuttled. According to two media ...

  KABUL / AP Afghan officials say flash floods in northern provinces have killed at least 38 people overnight. Remote, northern areas of Afghanistan often see flash floods triggered by heavy rains, which also cause landslides. The officials said on Monday that the flash floods struck the provinces of Takhar, Badghis and Samangan. Heavy rains have also hit the capital, ...

Beirut / AFP Key Syrian rebel groups vowed on Monday to strike back against alleged regime ceasefire violations, casting doubt on the future of fragile peace talks due to resume in Geneva. A truce agreed in February dramatically curtailed violence across much of Syria, but fighting has surged in recent days around second city Aleppo, causing tens of thousands to ...

  SEOUL/ AFP South Korea’s president is to visit Iran early next month for what would be the two countries’ first summit talks, her office said Monday. Iran has been seeking to integrate into the global financial system and improve ties with other countries since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted in January. Tehran last year agreed to curb nuclear activities in ...

  Addis Ababa / AFP More followers of an influential Iraqi Shiite cleric on Monday joined a rally in central Baghdad to press lawmakers to vote on a Cabinet shakeup proposed by the prime minister amid a simmering political crisis that could jeopardize the country’s fight against the Islamic State group. Police cordoned off a downtown square with razor wire ...

  Juba / AFP South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar’s highly-anticipated return to the capital Juba, to take up the role of vice president, was delayed on Monday, his spokesman said, citing “logistical reasons”. “We are committed to the peace agreement, but there have been logistical issues and the first vice president, Riek Machar, will come tomorrow,” spokesman William Ezekiel ...

  MILAN / REUTERS Italy has dubbed its new bank bailout fund Atlas, after the mythical Greek titan, because it is meant to hold up the sky above the nation’s lenders. But some of the fund’s own investors doubt that it can do the job. The 5-6 billion euro ($5.7-6.8 billion) fund was hailed by the government as an industry-led ...

  MADRID / REUTERS Spain’s Caixabank said on Monday it would launch a full takeover bid for the 56 percent of Portuguese lender Banco BPI that it does not already own for 1.113 euros ($1.26) per share. The offer was dependent on acceptance topping 50 percent and the Portuguese bank eliminating a 20 percent shareholder rights limitation, the Spanish bank ...

  REUTERS Arab National Bank, Saudi Arabia’s seventh-largest lender by assets value, reported a 2.8 percent fall in first-quarter profit, but still beat analysts’ forecasts. Net profit in the three months to March 31 was 749.2 million riyals ($199.8 million), compared to 770.6 million riyals in the corresponding period of the previous year, it said in a bourse statement. Four ...