AFP, JERUSALEM: A prominent Palestinian lawmaker has been jailed for 15 months by an Israeli military court, the military confirmed on Monday. Khalida Jarrar, a senior member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a well-known political figure, was sentenced on Sunday…

AFP, BEIJING: China’s capital issued its first ever red alert for pollution on Monday, as a new blanket of choking smog was projected to descend on the city. From Tuesday morning, half of Beijing’s private cars will be ordered off the road, with an odd-even number plate system in force,…

AFP, DAMASCUS: Syria expressed outrage Monday after a suspected US-led coalition strike for the first time killed regime troops, but the coalition denied its warplanes hit an army base. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Syria’s foreign ministry…

AFP, PARIS: France’s far-right National Front (FN) on Monday stood at the gates of power in several regions after record scores in the first round of elections, held just three weeks after the Paris attacks. Marine Le Pen’s party finished top in six of 13 regions on Sunday, from the economically…

AFP, BERLIN: Arson attacks on refugee shelters, assaults, swastikas sprayed on walls—as Germany has taken in record numbers of asylum seekers, it has been rocked by a xenophobic backlash which authorities have appeared unable to stop. With one million arrivals expected in the EU’s most populous…

AFP, BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday that most oil smuggled by the Islamic State group goes through Turkey, joining a chorus of countries linking it with the jihadists’ financing. During a meeting with Germany’s visiting foreign minister, Abadi stressed the “importance…