EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG A planned military offensive to reclaim Mosul from so-called Islamic State (IS) could see up to a million Iraqis flee their homes. The UN’s refugee agency has told the BBC how it and its partners are gearing up to deal with the expected humanitarian crisis by building camps to house those in need. The much-delayed operation ...

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG The UK could now qualify to join the African Union (AU). If after voting to leave the European Union the UK is feeling lonely and in need of the company of another community of nations, it should consider the AU. The UK has been exhibiting qualities that are very familiar to Africans, including “tribalism”. The tribe ...

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG The Kenyan government has put in place to tackle cheating in national exams, which begin in early November. Shipping containers are a common feature of the Kenyan landscape. You’ll find these steel boxes converted into comfortable homes, clinics and offices. Others are turned into shops and granaries to store farm products. But now shipping containers have ...

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG Human rights activists say a 22-year-old woman whose execution was delayed while she was pregnant could be hanged within days in Iran. Zeinab Sekaanvand was convicted of killing her husband, whom she says beat her for months. Her execution was postponed after she remarried in prison and conceived a child. Last month she gave birth to ...

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG Image copyrightAPImage captionAt least 140 people were killed in the bombing Yemen conflict Yemen crisis: Who is fighting whom? ‘Most people here die in silence’: Inside the fight to save Yemen’s health system Practising medicine under fire in Yemen A young girl and a city struggling for life The Saudi-led coalition bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen ...

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG When Thuli Madonsela’s daughter asked her over breakfast how it felt to be “South Africa’s biggest tell-tale”, the public protector just smiled. It was an understated reaction from the woman likely to go down in history as the person who rattled President Jacob Zuma more than any other figure in contemporary South Africa, exposed the growing ...

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are advancing on Dabiq, a symbolic stronghold of so-called Islamic State. The small town holds great value to IS because of a prophecy of an apocalyptic battle, and features heavily in its propaganda. The operation began as US and Russian envoys met in Switzerland to discuss possible routes to a new ceasefire. No ...

Suspected Islamist militants have killed 12 soldiers and injured eight in an attack on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian security sources say. The army says 15 militants were also killed in the attack, which took place near the town of Bir al-Abd. Gunmen from the Sinai Province group are reported to be behind the attack. It is ...

A halt to shipments of Saudi fuel to Egypt under a $23 billion aid deal shows that a rift between the Arab world’s richest country and its most populous may be deeper than previously thought, which could leave Egypt desperate for a new sponsor. Under the deal, signed during a visit by the Saudi king in April, Riyadh was meant ...

“Extremely rare” fossils from a swordfish-like creature which lived 100 million years ago have been discovered in the Australian outback. Two families on holiday unearthed the prehistoric predator at a free fossil-finding site in north-west Queensland. The remains are thought to be from the Australopachycormus hurleyi, a 3m-long ray-finned fish with a pointed snout. “Part of what makes this specimen ...