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Hundreds of Pakistani families have fled from a surge of fighting between Pakistani government forces and militants into neighboring class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Afghanistan , an Afghan government official said on Friday. _0"> Pakistani government forces have been launching air strikes against Pakistani Taliban fighters in a northwestern valley near the Afghan border in recent days, after Taliban fighters raided the country's biggest airport, in Karachi, late on Sunday. Missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft have also, for the first time in six months, attacked militants this week in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, a lawless militant stronghold on the Afghan order.   true       Millions of Afghan civilians have for decades sought shelter in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Pakistan to escape war in their homeland but the fighting in Pakistan this week has sparked a rare flow of civilians the other way. "Around 300 Pakistani families have

Shi'te Muslim class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iran is so alarmed by Sunni insurgent gains in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iraq that it may be willing to cooperate with Washington in helping Baghdad fight back, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. The idea is being discussed internally among the Islamic Republic's leadership, the senior Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official had no word on whether the idea had been raised with any other party. Officials say class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iran will send its neighbor advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to help its ally Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki check what Tehran sees as a profound threat to regional stability, officials and analysts say.   true       Islamist militants have captured swathes of territory including the country's second biggest city Mosul. Tehran is open to the possibility of working with the United States to

Tunisian police killed two Islamist militants during clashes near the Algerian border and seized weapons and bombs, the government said on Friday, two weeks after Islamists attacked a government minister's home in one of their boldest attacks. Tunisian forces are engaged in a crackdown on the hardline Islamist group Ansar al Sharia and launched a major assault this year on the Chaambi mountains in the west, close to the Algerian border, where Islamist militants have taken refuge. Clashes broke out on Thursday night in the northwest of the city of Jendouba,‮‮ Interior Ministry spokesman Ali Aroui said.   true       "Our forces killed two members of the terrorist group in Jendouba in exchange of fire... Tunisian police seized weapons, bombs and military costumes during the confrontation with Islamist militants", Aroui added. Four police were killed last month when Islamists opened fire on the interior minister's family home in the city of Kasserine. The minister L

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Ukraine said on Friday it was ready to pay a compromise price for Russian class="mandelbrot_refrag"> natural gas for 18 months to avert the threat of Moscow cutting off supplies and allow time to reach a long-term pricing agreement. Andriy Kobolev, chief executive of state gas company Naftogaz, said the price of $326 per 1,000 cubic metres - higher than what Kiev wants to pay and lower than what Russia demands - was proposed by the European Commission during talks. In talks that are made even more difficult by the conflict in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Ukraine , in which Kiev accuses Moscow of backing a separatist rebellion in eastern regions, Russia has threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine if it fails to start paying off billions of dollars in debts by Monday.   true       The Russian Energy Ministry has ruled out holding any more talks with Kiev and the EU before the Monday deadline. "In our opinio

Afghans head to the polls on Saturday for the second time in 10 weeks to elect a president who will take office as most foreign forces prepare to leave after nearly 13 years of inconclusive war. _0"> None of the eight candidates who contested the first round of the election on April 5 won more than 50 percent of the vote meaning the top two contenders have to face off on Saturday. The two men aiming to succeed President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from a third term, are a former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, and an ex-World Bank economist and former class="mandelbrot_refrag"> finance minister, Ashraf Ghani.   true       The winner will inherit an unfinished war and an class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy in the doldrums. The Taliban are still strong and Afghanistan's foreign-trained army has never put to rest questions about its effectiveness, especially in the absence of foreign troops, the bulk of whom will leave b

Nigeria is studying the military tactics used by Sri Lanka to crush the rebel Tamil Tigers for its own battle against Islamist group Boko Haram, the defense ministry said, after holding talks with officials from the island nation. Abuja has been criticized for its failure to contain the militant group, which has killed thousands since 2009 and has stepped up its devastating attacks after abducting more than 200 girls from a school in northeast Nigeria. Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, has exposed severe weaknesses in Abuja's security forces and heaped political pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan, who has declared a "full-scale operation" against the group.   true       High-ranking members of Nigeria's military met with a Sri Lankan delegation to discuss counter-insurgency tactics, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement late on Thursday. The chief of Nigeria's defense staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh,

Wearing sporting gear including cycling gloves, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked Egyptians on Friday to cycle and walk more to help the cash-strapped government that spends tens of billions of dollars a year on fuel subsidies. _0"> The former army chief gave one of his first speeches since last Sunday's inauguration to several hundred Egyptians on bicycles at a military college in the capital Cairo before taking part in a cycling marathon. Cyclists are rarely seen in Cairo where chaotic traffic regularly clogs up large parts of the city.   true       class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Egypt spent about 170 billion Egyptian pounds ($24 billion), or around a fifth of its budget, on energy subsidies this fiscal year ending June 30, state media quoted the government as saying this month, and plans to cut that to 104 billion next year. Energy prices in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Egypt are among the lowest in the world and although successive gover