(The Daily Star)- Iraqi forces prepared to retake the country's largest Christian town from ISIS Wednesday, a key milestone in their progress towards the extremists' main hub of Mosul. News of the move to recapture Qaraqosh sparked jubilation among Christians who had fled the town, with...

Package delivery company FedEx Corp (FDX.N) said on Tuesday it would invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to double the capacity of its logistics activities at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in the Paris suburb of Roissy. The initial investment by the U.S-listed firm will amount...

French, Russian and German leaders will meet in Berlin for talks on Syria Wednesday ahead of a brief truce in Aleppo backed by Moscow in the face of mounting criticism for its part in a brutal regime offensive. The meeting comes a day after the Kremlin announced that Russian and Syrian air...

(The Daily Star)- Egypt will seek to end procurement of wheat to open air silos by next year's buying season, Supply Minister Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh said Wednesday. A committee composed of officials from the supply, agriculture and finance ministries had been established to determine the...

Daesh has been ousted from five villages in northern Syria as part of Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield, the Turkish military said in a statement Wednesday. According to Turkish Armed Forces, the terrorist group lost the villages of Mazraat al-Uyun, Beyt Misto, Tel Malid, Jisr al-Samukah...

Anti-terrorist police arrested 20 Daesh suspects in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on Wednesday, a police official said. The suspects were rounded up in raids launched around 8 a.m. local time (0500GMT) at four locations across the province and documents were seized, the official...

A Shi'ite paramilitary force said late on Tuesday it will support the Iraqi army's offensive on Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq, raising the risk of sectarian strife in the mainly Sunni region. The Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), a coalition of mostly Iranian-trained...

The Syrian army and its allies see a risk that Islamic State will regroup in eastern Syria as it is forced from the Iraqi city of Mosul in a U.S.-backed operation, posing new risks for President Bashar al-Assad. Both the Syrian army and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah have warned of what they...

(theguardian)- The US and the UK have rejected a Russian and Syrian offer of a temporary “pause” on airstrikes in Aleppo as the basis for reopening talks, saying there has to be a credible and durable ceasefire that should initially last as long as 48 hours. Moscow had announced a temporary...

This farming village east of Mosul was turned into a bunker during more than two years of Islamic State rule: A network of tunnels and cramped living quarters betrays an extremist group increasingly forced to operate underground by a punishing air campaign and mounting territorial losses....

(the guardian)- More than a third of almost 300 female students abducted by Islamic militants from a school in Nigeria two-and-a-half years ago appear unwilling to leave their captors, a community leader has said. Nigeria’s government is negotiating the release of 83 of about 190 girls from...

Turkish jets will continue to take part in the air operation backing Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga to retake Iraq's second city of Mosul from jihadists after the defence minister said late Tuesday Ankara had agreed a deal with its coalition partners. "We have agreed with coalition...

U.S. President Barack Obama lacerated Donald Trump on Tuesday over his repeated assertions that the Nov. 8 election is rigged against him, telling the Republican presidential candidate to "stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes." With opinion polls showing him falling further...

Swiss champions Basel have a respectable record in Europe in recent seasons and fancy their chances of springing a surprise when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday. “We have not come to Paris to take selfies,” warned Basel’s Ivory Coast midfielder Geoffroy...

An Iranian court has sentenced an Iranian-American businessman and his elderly father to 10 years in prison on charges of cooperating with the United States, Iranian media reported on Tuesday, the latest sign of an intensifying crackdown against Iranians with ties to the West. Iran's Islamic...

(The Daily Star)- A drone strike killed eight suspected members of Al-Qaeda in south Yemen late Tuesday, security sources said. The strike hit two vehicles carrying the suspected militants in Shabwa province, killing six instantly while two died later of their wounds, the sources said....

(The Daily Star)- The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the worsening situation in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Friday after a formal request from Britain, a United Nations statement said. Britain made the request on behalf of a core group of 11 Western and Arab...

(The Daily Star)- International aid groups including the Red Cross said Tuesday they were preparing for the possible use of chemical weapons in the battle for the Iraq city of Mosul. Iraqi forces backed by an international coalition are making gains in their advance on the city, the last...

(The Daily Star)- The Syrian army Tuesday accused the U.S.-led coalition of planning to allow ISIS militants to flee Iraq's city of Mosul across the Syrian border, saying it would confront this attempt with all its means. A statement by the army command said the plan entailed securing roads...

Iraqi and Kurdish forces closing in on Mosul said on Tuesday they had secured some 20 villages on the outskirts of the city in the first day of an operation to retake what is Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq. With around 1.5 million people still living in Mosul, the...