At least 43 people have been killed in a shoot-out in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. Friday’s gunfight between security forces and an armed gang took place in Tanhuato near the Jalisco state border. The violence is thought to be drug-related and officials have said that at least one police officer was killed. The […]
Islamic State militants have seized the last Syrian government-controlled border crossing between Syria and Iraq, a Syrian monitoring group says. Government forces withdrew from al-Tanf – known as al-Waleed in Iraq – crossing as IS advanced, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said. The loss of al-Tanf to IS follows the group’s takeover of […]
EU leaders are gathering for a summit with six former Soviet states in Latvia, overshadowed by Russia’s role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The EU’s Eastern Partnership “is not an instrument for pursuing an expansionist EU policy”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said ahead of the summit. The partnership “is not directed against anyone, it’s […]
Defence minister had approved programme to stop Palestinians working in Israel returning to West Bank on Israeli buses Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has cancelled a pilot scheme banning Palestinian workers from Israeli buses in the occupied territories – denounced as tantamount to apartheid – only hours after it was announced. The plan had been […]
A Chinese man who was caught cheating on 17 girlfriends at once has been arrested for fraud. The man from Hunan province made headlines last month when all 17 women discovered each other when they rushed to his hospital bedside. The allegation of fraud relates to sums of money which he regularly took from the […]
All the human remains found at the scene of the Germanwings air crash have been identified and will be returned to their families, a French prosecutor says. The plane crashed in the French Alps on March 24 with 150 people on board. Investigators say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane after locking the pilot […]
Police in Texas are calling on members of rival motorcycle gangs to stop fighting after a deadly weekend shootout in Waco left nine dead. Sgt Patrick Swanton said: “There has been enough tragedy and there has been enough bloodshed.” Seven people remain in hospital and 170 are in custody. About 50 weapons were recovered from […]
Zimbabwe’s cricket team is in Pakistan, the first Test-playing nation to visit the country in six years. Thousands of security personnel were deployed as the team were taken from Lahore airport to a city hotel. Pakistan has hosted no top-level international cricket since Sri Lanka’s team bus was attacked by gunmen in Lahore in 2009. […]
Eleven Afghan policemen have been sentenced to one year in prison for failing to protect a woman killed by a mob in the capital Kabul in March. The 28-year-old woman called Farkhunda was beaten to death after being accused of burning a copy of the Koran, although witnesses say she did not. Earlier this month […]
Islamic State militants are preparing to defend the Iraqi city of Ramadi, witnesses say, as Iranian-backed militiamen gather east of the city. Residents said IS fighters had set up defensive positions and laid landmines after capturing the city on Sunday. Militants were also going door-to-door looking for government sympathisers and throwing bodies in the Euphrates […]