Mosul offensive: Iraqi forces storm airport in bid to retake city
Iraqi security forces have launched an attack on Mosul airport, a key part of the government's offensive to drive so-called Islamic State (IS) militants from the western half of the city.
They also stormed the nearby al-Ghazlani military camp, where fierce clashes were under way, AP reported.
The runway has already been destroyed by IS, but seizing such a large site would help the Iraqi army control southern routes into Mosul.
Eastern Mosul was retaken last month.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville, who is embedded with Iraqi federal police units, says they have reached the airport perimeter.
A military spokesman told Iraqia TV that simultaneous raids were being carried out on the airport and al-Ghazlani base to "distract" IS.
How different would North Korea have been under Kim Jong-nam?
Kim Jong-un’s multilingual, well-travelled older brother might have helped the country towards reform
Thursday 23 February 2017 07.00 GMT
As the news surrounding Kim Jong-nam’s death gets increasingly surreal it’s easy to forget what he could have represented: a North Korea capable of gradual reform.
Unlike most of his fellow citizens he was multilingual and travelled around the world from a young age, and while he never crossed to a position of dissent – by speaking out about human rights abuses or befriending defectors – a North Korea with him in the power structure could have looked remarkably different.
The weird and wacky propaganda aspects of the Kim family system could have been retained – the embalmed ex-leaders, the socialist artwork, the mushroom research institutes – but the country might have been more lenient on free speech and more willing to engage with the international community.
Pakistan attacks: Two bombings hit Lahore as wave of terror attacks by Isis and Taliban continue
At least five killed at market amid conflicting reports blast was caused by generator
At least five people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in a bombing that hit a busy shopping area in Pakistan’s second-largest city.
A second explosion was heard shortly afterwards in the Gulberg district of Lahore, local media said, reportedly near a branch McDonald's. There was no immediate confirmation of a second blast.
Officials initially said the first explosion was caused by an electrical generator but police said it was a bombing blast – the latest in almost a fortnight of continuous terror attacks.
Residents of South Africa’s suburbs burn down brothels, loot foreign-owned homes
Angry residents in South Africa’s Gauteng province have looted and set alight buildings and businesses believed to be run by foreigners as drug dens or brothels. The spate of violence began in Rosettenville, a suburb of Johannesburg, on February 5, and then spread to Pretoria West, a neighbourhood in the country’s capital, on February 18.
In Rosettenville on Sunday, February 5, a group of residents destroyed property belonging to foreign-born residents, primarily Nigerians, alleging that they were drug dealers and brothel owners. After protesting in the street, locals entered buildings and set them alight. They complained that local authorities had ignored their pleas to take action. During the week that followed, City of Johannesburg police raided several brothels.
But protests erupted again in Rosettenville the following Sunday, and at least four houses were torched, with one person treated for smoke inhalation. Police cars lined the streets of the suburb and used tear gas and rubber bullets on crowds of protesters in an attempt to quell the violence.
Erdoğan fans an Islamic nationalism in bid to build Ottoman-style influence
ISTANBUL, TURKEY—They portray themselves as the “average Joes” of Turkish politics: a builder-handyman and his fiancée, a cleaner, who both work for the same small Istanbul company that has been going through tough times.
Harun Demir, whose hands bear the signs of hard work, wears a small beard and an easy smile; Seniz Kaya’s long thick curls are fashionably dyed, and very visible since she doesn’t wear a headscarf.
The couple could not look less religious, or less political. Yet they are the face of a new politics in Turkey, a staunchly held view of Islamic nationalism deliberately and painstakingly carved by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Four Indonesians richer than poorest 100 million
Gap between rich and poor has grown faster in Indonesia than in any other country in South-East Asia, Oxfam reports.
A report on inequality in Indonesia says its four richest men now have more wealth than 100 million of the country's poorest people.
The report by Oxfam said Indonesia, with a population of more than 250 million, has the sixth-worst inequality in the world. Within Asia, only Thailand is more unequal.
It blames "market fundamentalism" that has allowed the richest to capture most of the benefits of nearly two decades of strong economic growth, concentration of land ownership and pervasive gender inequality.
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