Mosul battle will be finished within days - Iraqi army chief
Iraqi security forces are only days away from completing the operation to recapture Mosul from so-called Islamic State, the army's chief of staff says.
Lt Gen Othman al-Ghanimi told the BBC he hoped the jihadist group would be defeated in the city before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins on 26 May.
Recent gains in the north meant the remaining militants were being squeezed into an ever smaller area, he added.
Mosul fell to IS in 2014 and is its last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
Pro-government forces launched a major offensive to retake the city in October with the support of US-led coalition air strikes.
They managed to take full control of the eastern half of Mosul in January and started an assault on the west the following month.
‘If a man can do it, why can't I?’: turning the tables on India's instant divorce law
As India debates the validity of a law allowing men to divorce by uttering three words, one woman is blazing a trail by using the practice against her husband
As dusk was falling, Amreen Begum’s husband bundled her into his auto-rickshaw together with their two young children. He dumped them beside some wheat fields outside Meerut, a city 70km north-east of India’s capital, New Delhi.
“He didn’t even bother going the extra 2km up to my parents’ home,” says Begum.
She knew it was only a matter of time before her husband called or texted her to utter the words “talaq, talaq, talaq”, the instant and unilateral divorce available only to Muslim men.
Can Syria ever be repaired when its long civil war finally comes to an end?
Syria’s conflict will end with many more casualties and many more missing than the Lebanese civil war. Vast areas of towns and cities are razed to the ground
After its titanic civil war, can Syria remain a united state? And if it does – if Syria can be put back together again – how do you repair its people?
These are not idle words when, across the border, the people of Lebanon have again been marking the mournful anniversary of the start of their own civil war in 1975. The dead of Lebanon, like the dead of Syria, have been buried and resurrected by journalists and politicians. At the end of the Lebanese Civil War we reckoned 150,000 had died. Two months ago, a young Beirut activist suddenly came up with a figure of 200,000. What happened to the extra 50,000? And then last month, the figure rose again in a local newspaper to 250,000. What happened to the extra 100,000?
It’s worth remembering these disturbing changes. Syria’s dead simply cannot be calculated. When the UN figure reached 400,000, most of the media went along with it.
Mexico examines video of soldier shooting prone civilian
Mexican authorities will investigate a video that appears to show a soldier executing a civilian. The government rejects a study that found that Mexico is the world's second most violent country - behind only Syria.
Mexico's Defense Ministry will investigate footage that appears to show a soldier kill a civilian. Taken May 3 in the town of Palmarito, the video sheds light on an encounter that left 10 people, including four soldiers, dead after the military confronted alleged fuel pipeline thieves in the central state of Puebla.
Apparently from a security camera, heavily edited footage shows the encounter, in which soldiers say the accused thieves used local residents as human shields. Toward the end of the video, a man is seen lying on the ground as at least three soldiers stand near him; after a flash is visible in the frame, the victim bucks and then his body goes still. "Conduct contrary to the law and human rights cannot be justified under any circumstances," the military announced in a statement late Wednesday.
Nigerian lawmakers probe outspoken traditional ruler
Lawmakers in northern Nigeria have opened an investigation into corruption claims against one of the country's leading traditional rulers, whose progressive views have caused controversy in a conservative region.
The local legislature in Kano state on Wednesday set up a committee to probe eight allegations against the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, over the "embezzlement of funds belong to the emirate council".
Other claims include abuse of office and improper conduct.
The eight-member committee is expected to report its findings to the state house of assembly within two weeks.
South Korea's new president questions Japan 'comfort women' deal
Updated 0952 GMT (1752 HKT) May 11, 2017
New South Korean President Moon Jae-in has cast doubt on a landmark deal with Japan over wartime sex slaves.
"The reality is the majority of our people cannot emotionally accept the comfort women agreement," Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday.
Moon emphasized "the two sides should work together based on understanding of the emotions and reality of the people," according to a statement from the presidential office.
However, he was clear that he thought the issue shouldn't affect the wider South Korea-Japan relationship, saying the two countries should deal with the "comfort women" dispute and "work independently in order to respond to the North Korean nuclear and missiles issues."
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