The US does not yet have a “complete strategy” for helping Iraq regain territory from Islamic State (IS), President Barack Obama has said. He said the Pentagon was reviewing ways to help Iraq train and equip its forces. But Mr Obama said a full commitment to the process was needed by the Iraqis themselves. He had earlier met Iraqi Prime ...

The G7 has called for a transformation of electricity generation towards renewables and nuclear by 2050. And they said fossil fuel should not be burned in any sector of the economy by the end of the century. Their targets are not binding – but they send a clear message to investors that in the long term economies will have to ...

At least 45 Iraqi police officers have been killed in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in Anbar province, security officials say. Suicide bombers rammed three vehicles packed with explosives into a base in the Tharthar area, on a road connecting the cities of Falluja and Samarra. Several high-ranking officers were among the casualties, one source said. Anbar has ...

It is a club where membership is a “privilege that offers enormous rewards”, but Australia is planning to strip membership from alleged terrorists who hold dual nationality. New legislation proposed by Australia’s Coalition government, expected to be introduced within weeks, will enable the government to remove Australian citizenship from dual nationals who take up arms or support militant groups at ...

Malaysia Airlines has outlined plans for a major restructure that will see the carrier slash around 6,000 jobs as it struggles to stay in business. The plan, released on Monday by email, said the airline would begin operations under a new brand on September 1. About 14,000 of the roughly 20,000 existing employees are expected to receive offer letters to ...

Australian customs turned back 65 people, including a pregnant woman, after their boat reached Australian waters last Tuesday, according to an Indonesian police chief. The 65 people from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, who reportedly claimed to be asylum seekers, are in detention on the Indonesian island of Rote. Fishermen spotted two boats floating near an island in the West ...

With its two biggest victories in nearly a year in Iraq and Syria, ISIS has energized its fighters, littered the streets of two cities with the bodies of its enemies and forced the U.S. to re-examine its strategy. The near simultaneous capture this month of Ramadi west ofBaghdad and Palmyra northeast of Damascus has reinforced the sway of the self-proclaimed ...

When Islamist fighters stormed a besieged hospital in northwest Syria, regime soldier Mohammad Mahmoud Assafnarrowly escaped a brutal fate by pretending he was already dead. The 28-year-old was one of at least 150 soldiers and family members who had been trapped in Jisr al-Shughur hospital for almost a month. As Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and other Islamist factions overran ...

A senior ISIS figure known as “the blind judge” has made an appearance in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, asserting the militant group’s dominion over it as security forces and Shiite militias prepare a counterattack. Residents of Ramadi said that a blind man with one hand and his head shrouded had delivered a speech in the Anbar provincial capital’s main ...

Security forces arrested five fugitives in different areas of north Lebanon Thursday at checkpoints and in house raids, security sources said. Lebanese fugitive Bassem al-Asmar, wanted over several arrest warrants, was arrested by the Army in al-Arour Street in the Tripolineighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, one source said, without specifying the nature of the charges. Police also arrested two people in ...