( The Wall Street Journal )- Before launching the battle to capture Islamic State’s de facto capital, the U.S.-led military coalition dropped leaflets calling on extremists to surrender. On the ground, militants were going door to door, demanding that residents pay their utility bills....

North Korea fired several short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast early on Saturday, South Korea and the U.S. military said, as the two allies conducted annual joint military drills that the North denounces as preparation for war. The U.S. military’s Pacific Command said...

(The Independent)- It was like hell. In the hospital it was very quiet despite all the people. Everyone was crying, crying from the gas, crying from looking at the bodies. It was so full, people were laid out on the floor. I almost stepped on the body of my friend. I didn’t even realise...

New U.S. sanctions on Moscow have forced Russian business chiefs to accept that Donald Trump's rise to power is not about to produce a "Trump Bump" in foreign investment. After Trump became U.S. president, some investors said they would be prepared to contemplate new deals with Russian firms...