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  Baghdad/ AFP Bombings targeting shopping areas in Shiite districts of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 50, security and medical officials said. The IS extremist group claimed an attack in the Baghdad Jadida neighbourhood in the east of the city, saying it was carried out by a man wearing an explosive ...

  Libreville / AFP Ali Bongo was sworn back in as Gabon’s president on Tuesday, calling for unity after a disputed election win that sparked deadly unrest and revealed deep divisions in the oil-rich country. The 57-year-old used the ceremony to appeal for unity after the deadly violence that followed the announcement of his victory last month. He pledged to ...

  Kunduz / AFP Two Afghan soldiers with suspected Taliban links killed at least 12 of their comrades as they slept in the volatile northern province of Kunduz, officials said on Tuesday in the latest so-called “insider attack”. The incident occurred just after midnight on the outskirts of Kunduz city, which was briefly captured by the Taliban last year in ...

  Damascus / AFP Syrian government troops on Tuesday took control of a central rebel-held district in Aleppo city, where the army is pressing an operation to retake opposition territory, a military source said. “The army retook control of all of the Farafira district northwest of the Aleppo citadel after neutralising many terrorists. Units are now demining the area,” the ...

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey has dismissed 87 staff from its spy agency over alleged links to the failed July 15 coup, state media said on Tuesday, in the first purge of one of the country’s most powerful institutions. The National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) has suspended 141 personnel in an internal probe over links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who ...

  Tehran / AFP Iran is not ready to compromise on the issues of intelligence sharing, sanctions and definitions of terrorist groups in order to join an international task force against terror financing, a minister said on Tuesday. Iran, along with North Korea, is blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and aims to be removed from “high risk ...

  Tehran / AFP Former hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday he will not compete in next year’s presidential vote, following advice from Iran’s supreme leader, media reported. “In following the will of the great leader of the revolution, I have no plans to be present in next year’s presidential competitions,” he wrote in a letter to Ayatollah ...

  Tunis / AFP An appeal from Tunisia’s highest religious authority for workers to end strikes and protests and save the country’s ailing economy stirred outrage on Tuesday. Grand Mufti Othman Battikh on Monday called on Tunisians to “dedicate all their efforts to working and studying” and to “abandon untimely protests and sit-ins hindering work and production”. His remarks came ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG is nearing an agreement to operate airplanes now flying under the Air Berlin Plc banner, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, letting Lufthansa bolster its discount flights as Air Berlin cuts back its routes. Lufthansa’s supervisory board on Wednesday will review a plan to let its Eurowings low-cost arm use about 40 ...

  Bloomberg Avianca Brasil, one of the airlines controlled by Jose and German Efromovich, is seeking to sell an ownership stake of as much as 20 percent for more than $150 million, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The carrier hired UBS Group AG to advise on the potential transaction and the sale process has started, said ...