AFP, Baghdad
Iraqi pro-government tribal militiamen summarily executed four men suspected of being members of the Islamic State group in the country’s north, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.
The rights group said that the killings took place on November 29 near the village of Shayalat al-Imam, located some 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Mosul, the last IS-held Iraqi city that is the target of a massive military operation launched two months ago.
Iraqi security forces were present for at least one execution but did not attempt to intervene, HRW quoted residents as saying.
China will return seized US drone
Reuters, Beijing
China’s defence ministry said on Saturday it had been in talks with the United States about returning an underwater drone taken by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea, but the US was not helping by “hyping up” the issue. The drone was taken on Thursday, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles north-west of Subic Bay off the Philippines, just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), US officials said.
France postpones ME peace confce
Reuters, Paris
France has postponed a proposed Middle East peace conference in Paris to January next year, its ambassador to the United Nations said, acknowledging that the conditions to bring Israelis and Palestinians face-to-face were currently not there.
France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals.
Militants kill 3 Indian soldiers
Reuters, Srinagar
Militants attacked an Indian army convoy in Kashmir on Saturday, killing three soldiers, a defense spokesman said, in the latest in an uptick of violence in the disputed region at the heart of tensions with rival Pakistan.
The men were ambushed on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state where Indian forces have been battling an armed revolt since 1989.
