The group calling itself Islamic State said it was behind three suicide bombings that killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens more outside the Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday.
Snow is falling in Syria, hiding the scars of war as the last refugees are evacuated from Aleppo after a day of waiting in the freezing cold because of delays.
Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a moment of reckoning after the deadly attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. The leader’s popularity had already taken a hit due to her open-door refugee policy, and attacks in Bavaria over the Summer.
German police have detained the suspected driver of a truck that ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing at least nine people and injuring up to 50.
Prizewinning 29-year-old independent journalist Hadi Abdullah has been reporting in the west of the province of Aleppo, controlled by the Syrian opposition.
Officials from both pro-Assad military alliance and Syrian rebels have confirmed a truce deal is back on, meaning evacuations would start ‘within hours’.