10,000th Syrian reaches US this week
AP, Amman
The U.S. ambassador to Jordan says Washington will reach its target Monday of taking in 10,000 Syrian war refugees in a yearlong resettlement program.
The program emerged as an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Republican nominee Donald Trump alleging in the past that displaced Syrians constitute a potential security threat.
Taliban fighters overrun Afghan district
Reuters, Gardez
Taliban insurgents overran a district in eastern Afghanistan, killing and wounding dozens of police and soldiers and threatening strategically important road routes to Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.
Abdul Rahman Solamal, governor of Jani Khel district, in the eastern province of Paktia said that after heavy overnight fighting, security forces had pulled out of the district, which sits at an intersection linking eight districts and which connects Paktia with neighbouring Khost province and Pakistan.
Philippine militants stage mass jailbreak
AFP, Marawi
Muslim extremists who support the Islamic State group staged a daring jailbreak in the southern Philippines, freeing 23 detainees in the latest in a series of mass escapes, officials said Sunday.
About 50 heavily armed members of the Maute group raided the local jail in the southern city of Marawi on Mindanao island on Saturday and freed eight comrades who were arrested barely a week ago, police said.
7 Yemeni civilians killed in attack
AFP, Aden
Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck a rebel convoy near a taxi stand in central Yemen, killing seven civilians and nine insurgents, officials said on Sunday.
The air strikes hit three vehicles belonging to the Huthi rebels late Saturday near the Mafraq Sharab junction outside the southwestern city of Taez, a military official said.
Medical sources said hospitals in Taez received the bodies of seven civilians, while military sources said nine rebels were killed and 14 people were wounded.
