AFP, ISTANBUL: The suicide attackers who launched the deadly Istanbul airport assault were planning to take dozens of passengers hostage, Turkish media reported Friday, as CCTV of the bombers’ faces emerged. Turkish officials have pointed blame at the Islamic State jihadist group for Tuesday night’s…

AFP, TRIPOLI: Libya’s UN-backed unity government said on Friday that four of its ministers had been sacked just three months after it set up office in the capital Tripoli. Their departure is a new setback in efforts to unify the North African country which has a rival administration in the east.…

AFP, MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday for the first time since Moscow and Ankara mended ties shattered last year by the downing of a Russian jet. Lavrov said both sides wanted to “set the right tone for the normalisation of relations”…

AFP, THIEPVAL, France: French President Francois Hollande said Friday that Brexit cannot be “cancelled” or “delayed”, after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron. “The decision has been taken, it cannot be delayed and it cannot be cancelled, now they have to…

AFP, MANILA: Philippine Presi­dent Rodrigo Duterte on Friday urged communist rebels to start killing drug traffickers, adding another layer to a controversial war on crime in which he has warned thousands will die. Duterte won May’s election in a landslide after a campaign dominated by his…

AFP, THIEPVAL: Britain and France on Friday marked 100 years since their troops fought and died side by side in the Battle of the Somme, one of the defining…