Peshmerga fight to retain town

Iraq: Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling to prevent Islamic State (Isis) forces from retaking the town of Gwer, just outside the northern city of Mosul, sustained at least 30 fatalities, an Iraqi military spokesman said yesterday.

Isis controls Mosul but Kurdish peshmerga units retook Gwer in August, with the help of US bombing raids, after an Isis offensive saw it seize a wide swath of Iraq.

Gwer is near Irbil, the Kurdish regional capital and retaking it would give Isis a new base to launch assaults on the city.

Kerry looks to increase trade ties

India: US Secretary of State John Kerry called for a rapid expansion of US-India trade and commercial ties yesterday as he attended an international investment conference in Ahmedabad.

Mr Kerry said it was imperative that ties between the two countries grow for the sake of Indian development, reducing poverty and fighting climate change.

3 killed in raids on military posts

Ivory Coast: State media reported two soldiers killed yesterday in a raid on military posts near the border with Liberia.

The attack began early on Saturday morning in the town of Grabo and the soldiers were killed in the village of Dahioke, 12 miles from the town. One assailant was also killed.

The attackers are believed to be supporters of former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Irate passengers’ bid for freedom

China: Police held 25 angry plane passengers on Saturday after they opened emergency exit doors before take-off because their flight was delayed by snow.

The passengers were forced to wait in their seats for hours and, after requesting that they be allowed off the plane for health reasons, some passengers “opened three emergency doors in an attempt to stop the flight,” Xinhua news agency quoted a passenger as saying.

Two of the passengers were sentenced to 15 days in detention for violating public order. The others were held for questioning but released later.

Ukraine could face early bond payment

Russia: Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said yesterday that Ukraine has violated the terms of a £2 billion bond issue and that Moscow could demand early repayment.

If Russia presses the demand, it could add significantly to the Ukrainian economy’s struggles as the country’s crisis extends into a second year.

The bond, which was bought by Russia in December, lays down that state debt must not exceed 60 per cent of gross domestic product.

At least seven killed in cafe

Lebanon: Suicide bombers wreaked carnage in a Tripoli coffee shop on Saturday night, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 30.

Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the blast in the predominantly Alawite neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen, saying it was a twin suicide attack.

The state-run National News Agency said the attack killed nine people and wounded more than 35, citing its local reporter for the casualty figures.

French killer ‘in Syria’

Turkey: Security services said at the weekend that the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, who was killed during his hostage-taking outrage in a kosher supermarket on Friday, may have crossed into Syria.

An official said that a woman resembling Hayat Boumeddiene had landed at Sabiha Gokcen, Istanbul’s secondary airport, on January 2.