Kurdish forces repel ISIS offensive near Irbil
Updated 0811 GMT (1611 HKT) February 18, 2015
After hours of heavy fighting, Kurdish fighters in Iraq have repelled an assault by ISIS fighters southwest of Irbil, Kurdish officials said.
Kurdish commanders say ISIS fighters had threatened to overrun Kurdish defensive positions in the area for a while, and the two sides were so close that airstrikes were not possible.
But by 3 a.m. local time Wednesday, the Peshmerga had succeeded in forcing ISIS back, allowing airstrikes to begin.
The commanders said Kurdish forces suffered several casualties, but that many ISIS fighters were killed -- especially when airstrikes began.
A major assault
ISIS launched the major assault from several directions Tuesday night near the towns of Gwer and Makhmour.
The towns are about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Irbil, the Kurdish capital.
Afghan civilian deaths hit record high
Insurgents, government forces and international troops all contribute to highest total in five years since records began
Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in Afghanistan, the UN said in a report on Wednesday, with more civilians killed in 2014 than since the agency began compiling figures in 2009. While Nato has ended its combat mission, and Barack Obama has declared that America’s longest war is ending responsibly, fighting in the country is intensifying.
“In communities across Afghanistan, increased ground fighting among parties to the conflict and more IED attacks exacted a heavy toll on Afghan civilians,” said the top UN envoy, Nicholas Haysom.
The report (pdf) documented 3,699 civilian deaths in 2014, the highest death toll since the UN began keeping systematic record in 2009. Another 6,849 people were injured, bringing the number of civilian casualties to 10,548, a 22% jump from last year. The total civilian death toll after more than a decade of war is now almost 18,000.
Police investigation reveals details of Paris attacks
Degree of co-ordination between Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly disclosed
Lara Marlowe
Six weeks after 17 innocents and three jihadi gunmen were killed in Paris, a detailed account has emerged in a four-page spread in Le Monde newspaper, based on access to the police investigation.
Previously unclear was the degree of co-ordination between Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers who killed 12 in the attack on Charlie Hebdo, and Amedy Coulibaly, who murdered a policewoman and four Jews in a kosher supermarket. Cherif and Coulibaly had met in prison, and their wives were close friends.
The Kouachi brothers sent a text message to Coulibaly at 10.19 on the morning of January 7th, one hour before the assault on Charlie Hebdo. Police believe Coulibaly walked with Cherif in the streets around the younger Kouachi’s apartment between midnight and 1am on the night before the killing started.
Syria willing to halt Aleppo airstrikes for six weeks
Damascus has agreed to stop air attacks on the northern city of Aleppo for six weeks for humanitarian reasons, the UN's special envoy to Syria said. There are hopes the truce could be replicated for other areas.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was willing to suspend aerial bombardment of Aleppo for six weeks to allow humanitarian aid, the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura told the United Nations Security Council.
"The government of Syria has indicated to me its willingness to halt all aerial bombing and artillery shelling for a period of six weeks all over the city of Aleppo from a date we'll announce in Damascus," de Mistura told journalists after addressing the Security Council.
Similar truces were enforced in the past months near the central city of Homs, but were criticized for heavily favoring the government. The United States even called them akin to "surrender arrangements."
Kidnap of Tanzanian albino child sparks call to enforce witch doctor ban
Kizito Makoye
Dar es Salaam: The abduction of an albino child in Tanzania has sparked calls for greater action to enforce a newly imposed ban on witch doctors to stop the killing of albinos whose body parts are prized in black magic.
The one-year-old boy was grabbed from his mother in his home in the Geita region of north-western Tanzania on Sunday, a month after the government announced a nationwide ban on witch doctors who are accused of fuelling a wave of attacks on albinos.
More than 70 albinos, who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes, have been murdered in the east African nation in the past decade, according to figures from the United Nations, many hacked to death and their body parts removed to make charms and spells that witch doctors claim bring good luck and wealth.
Why Egypt may be hard-pressed to fight Islamic State on two fronts (+video)
President Sisi launched airstrikes against militants in Libya, Egypt was already battling an IS affiliate in the Sinai. The two fronts may overextend Egypt's military.
CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government is positioning itself as a key member in the anti-Islamic State coalition, and the popular strongman appears to have domestic backing to take things up a notch.
Yet at the same time the government is signaling that its abilities are limited, and is asking Western powers for support.
Mr. Sisi is already fighting Islamist-inspired militants at home, including an Islamic State (IS) affiliate in the eastern Sinai Peninsula. Now, with its first confirmed airstrike against IS forces in Libya, Egypt is engaging on its western flank.
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