The United States plans to provide $5m to help support a regional military force fighting Nigeria’s Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a state department official said on Tuesday. Boko Haram last year held a vast swathe of territory in north-eastern Nigeria of just over 30 000 square kilometres, about the …

Syrian refugees in Turkey have begun returning to their homes in Tal Abyad after Kurdish forces seized the border town in a major blow to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Some 200 men, women and children carrying their meagre possessions crossed back into Syria through the Turkish …

French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday that talks with India over the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets were progressing well and would be finalised within “two to three months”.