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  Baghdad / AFP Iraq’s elite forces deployed around Fallujah, marking a new phase in efforts to retake the extremist bastion, as concern grew for trapped civilians there and in neighbouring Syria. After almost a week of shaping operations around Fallujah, the arrival of the counter-terrorism service (CTS) signalled that an assault on the IS group inside the city may ...

  Rome / AFP A week of shipwrecks and death in the Mediterranean culminated on Sunday with harrowing testimony from migrant survivors who said another 500 people including 40 children had drowned, bringing the number of feared dead to 700. Brought to safety in the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo, survivors told the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and Save ...

  London / AFP The British coastguard said it rescued 19 migrants on Sunday from the Channel after their inflatable boat began to take on water. “The rhib (rigid-hulled inflatable boat), with 19 people on board was located at 2.00am and the incident handed over to Border Force,” it said in a statement. The mission included the deployment of a ...

  SHINDAND / AP A breakaway Taliban faction is willing to hold peace talks with the Afghan government but will demand the imposition of Islamic law and the departure of all foreign forces, a senior leader of the group said Sunday. Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi told a group of around 200 followers in eastern Afghanistan that his faction had no ...

  Dhaka / AFP At least 10 people have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between supporters and candidates of rival parties during the latest Bangladesh local elections, police and poll monitors said on Sunday. Unprecedented levels of violence and allegations of poll rigging have marred local council elections held in phases since March, with at least 90 people ...

  Tripoli / AFP Two months after his dramatic arrival in Libya’s capital, Fayez Al-Sarraj’s unity government has won international support but had little impact inside a divided country plagued by extremists, analysts say. The head of the Government of National Accord sailed into Tripoli under naval escort on March 30 in defiance of a militia alliance that has been in ...

  Jerusalem / AFP A key party in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s newly expanded right-wing coalition threatened to bring it down on Sunday over a demand related to the military. The Jewish Home party, whose leader Naftali Bennett is a political rival to Netanyahu, said it would vote against the expanded coalition in parliament if its demand was not met. ...

  Bloomberg French unions seeking to overturn an unpopular labor law are set to intensify their protests as the government shows no sign of giving in after a week of strikes and blockades caused gas stations in many regions of the country to run dry. By the end of this week, the national railroad, the Paris metro, ports and air ...

  LONDON / AP Senior Conservative Party members in Britain have intensified their attacks on Prime Minister David Cameron with an open letter accusing him of misleading the public over immigration. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove used a Sunday Times letter to say Cameron’s goal of lowering immigration cannot be achieved while Britain remains in ...

New Delhi / AFP Police said on Sunday they arrested five Indians accused of assaulting Africans in New Delhi, after African diplomats urged the Indian government to ensure the safety of their nationals living in the country. A Delhi deputy police commissioner Ishwar Singh said altercations and scuffles took place on Thursday night after locals became offended by Africans playing ...