Fighting raged for a third day yesterday between the Islamic State group and Kurdish forces in Syria after IS attacked a prison housing jihadists, in violence that has claimed over 70 lives, a monitor said. 

The death toll from a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a prison run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels climbed to at least 82 detainees, the rebels and an aid group said Saturday.

Iran is in talks with Russia over the construction of two new units at its sole nuclear power plant, the Islamic republic’s atomic energy agency said yesterday.

The Islamic State group on Friday attacked a Syria prison housing fellow jihadists and a military base in Iraq in near simultaneous deadly operations that revived fears of a IS resurgence. 

Three children and more than 60 adults are reported to have been killed in air strikes in Yemen on Friday, Save the Children said, after a Reuters witness said several people including African migrants were killed in a raid in Saada province.

More than 200 people were either killed or wounded in an air strike on a prison and at least three children died in a separate bombardment as Yemen's long-running conflict suffered a dramatic escalation of violence on Friday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that he believed reviving the Iran nuclear deal was still possible after “modest progress” in talks, after meeting with European allies in Berlin.

Indonesia’s parliament has approved a bill to relocate the nation’s capital from Jakarta to a jungled area of Kalimantan on Borneo island, the planning minister said yesterday. 

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates using drones on Monday, setting off explosions in fuel trucks that killed three people and causing a fire near the airport of Abu Dhabi, capital of the region's commercial and tourism hub.

The Dubai-based Emirates Airlines has recreated the ad which garnered media attention last year.

The Philippines has finalised a deal to acquire a shore-based anti-ship missile system from India for nearly $375 million to beef up its navy, the Southeast Asian nation’s defence minister said.

The UN mission in Yemen’s rebel-held port of Hodeida yesterday expressed “great concern” over claims it was being used for military purposes and demanded access for an inspection.

Saudi authorities have released a princess and her daughter who had been held without charge for nearly three years in the capital, a human rights group said on Saturday.

A Palestinian was killed by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank early yesterday, Palestinian medical and security sources said. 

The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group came under fire Wednesday in Iraq and Syria but reported no casualties, in the latest of several attacks that Washington blamed on “Iran-backed groups”.

About 200 fighters have been killed in fresh clashes near the strategic Yemeni city of Marib, military and medical sources said yesterday, as the seven-year war witnesses a surge in violence.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi vowed revenge against Donald Trump unless the former US president is tried over the killing of Qassem Soleimani, as Tehran marked two years since the revered commander’s death.

The US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq yesterday shot down two armed drones targeting a compound at Baghdad airport hosting its personnel, a coalition official said.

Yemeni rebels have seized an Emirati-flagged vessel in the Red Sea, the insurgents and a Saudi-led coalition said yesterday, giving conflicting details for the latest escalation in a seven-year war.

Israel could reach herd immunity amid surging Omicron infections, its top health official said yesterday, as the country approved the use of Merck & Co’s molnupiravir anti-viral pill for Covid-19 patients.