Iraqi air strike: A tribal leader said Wednesday that an air strike killed 19 pro-government tribal Sunni fighters south of the town of Mosul, which is held by the Islamic State. Sheikh Nazhan al-Lihaibi said the air strike took place following hours of clashes between his troops and Islamic State militants east of the town of Qayara. The U.S.-led coalition said it had carried out strikes in the area at the request of Iraqi security forces, adding that it had destroyed a building and killed eight enemy fighters. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made the announcement to reporters Wednesday surrounded by ambassadors from the 14 other council nations after they held their sixth informal poll of the 10 candidates behind closed doors. French far-right firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen asked a Paris court Wednesday to force the party he founded to let him back in, after he was expelled for anti-Semitic comments that embarrassed his daughter Marine as she pursues the French presidency. The party expelled Le Pen, 88, for a series of remarks considered a liability to the party’s image, including referring to Nazi gas chambers as a “detail” of World War II history. Greek police say they have broken a major gang that allegedly exported thousands of illegally excavated antiquities for sale through conniving European auction houses or directly to private buyers. China’s “top threat”: A vast swath of the Chinese public sees the U.S. as “a top threat,” worse than climate change or the Islamic State, according to an independent public opinion survey published Wednesday.
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