International News

In Iraq, fewer refugees than expected from Mosul push: US

  • WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (APP/AFP): The offensive to seize Mosul, the Islamic State group’s last major stronghold in Iraq, has resulted in fewer refugees than expected so far, US government officials said Monday. Since the beginning of the US-backed Iraqi forces’ advance three weeks ago, the fighting has displaced “just over 33,000 people,” a US official […]

  • Syria sends first official to Lebanon in six years

    BEIRUT, Nov 7 (APP/AFP): Syria’s presidency dispatched an envoy to Lebanon on Monday to congratulate newly-elected President Michel Aoun, the first such official visit in six years. In a statement, Aoun’s office said he had received “a message of congratulations on his election as president of the republic from his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad carried […]

  • Estonia’s pro-West coalition collapses amid infighting

    TALLINN, Nov 7 (APP/AFP): Estonia’s three-party coalition government collapsed on Monday as its two junior partners ended their cooperation with pro-NATO Prime Minister Taavi Roivas amid infighting over his leadership. “For the Social Democrats SDE and conservative IRL party the cooperation with the Reform party in this government has finished,” Heidi Ojamaa, SDE spokeswoman told […]

  • US top general Dunford visits Ankara

    ANKARA, Nov 6, (APP/AFP) – The top US general Joseph Dunford on Sunday made a previously unannounced visit to Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, the army said, as Kurdish-Arab forces launched an operation to capture the jihadist bastion of Raqa in Syria. The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff was to […]

  • Suicide bombings in cities north of Baghdad kill at least 18: officials

    KIRKUK, Iraq, Nov 6, (APP/AFP) – Suicide bombings killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 30 in two cities north of Baghdad on Sunday, officials said. One bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at the southern entrance to Tikrit, while the other blew up an ambulance in Samarra, the officials said.

  • Test for PM as Bulgarians elect president

    SOFIA, Nov 6 (APP/AFP): Bulgarians were voting Sunday in a first round of a presidential election, a key test of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s popularity that could also determine relations between the EU’s poorest country and Russia. If his candidate and protegee Tsetska Tsacheva fails to win the presidency, Borisov might call early legislative elections, […]