IRAQ: A Turkish woman was sentenced to death yesterday and 11 other women received life behind bars for involvement with the Isis terror group.

The women, who were all arrested after their husbands died resisting Iraqi forces retaking Mosul and Tal Afar, claimed they had been duped or forced to join their husbands in Iraq.

Only the woman sentenced to death said she had travelled willingly, although later expressing regret.

FRANCE: Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot presented a plan today to bolster wolf numbers despite shepherds’ complaints about attacks on their flocks.

Wolf numbers are set to increase from 360 to 500 by 2023, while farmers will be given financial help to protect their livestock, using fences and dogs, and will be allowed to cull 10 per cent of the population a year.

SOUTH AFRICA: Authorities may call on Interpol to track down members of the shadowy billionaire Gupta family, the alleged puppet-masters of disgraced former president Jacob Zuma.

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said in an interview yesterday that the anti-corruption investigation was focusing on India, China and Dubai.

MOZAMBIQUE: At least 17 people were killed today when heavy rains caused a rubbish heap in Maputo to collapse.

Part of the Hulene rubbish mound, which had reached the height of a three-storey building, fell onto nearby houses in the deprived district.

GAMBIA: President Adama Barrow announced a moratorium on the death penalty to Independence Day crowds yesterday, calling it the “first step towards abolition.”