IN BRIEF

Pakistan

Grim Eid after oil tanker inferno

Pakistan began Eid in mourning on Monday as the death toll from an oil tanker explosion rose to 157, with scores more injured after they were caught in a fireball while scooping up spilled fuel.

The truck, carrying 25,000 liters of gasoline, was traveling from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside the town of Bahawalpur early on Sunday.

Libya

Irish naval ship rescues 712 people

An Irish naval ship rescued 712 people including 14 pregnant women and four infants off the coast of the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of an international migrant rescue effort, Ireland's Defense Forces said on Monday. The Le Eithne ship led the rescue of multiple vessels in distress 40 kilometers northwest of Tripoli throughout Sunday. Six migrants, including one baby, were revived from states of unconsciousness. The ship will transport the people to a designated "port of safety" to be handed over to Italian authorities.

Middle East

US urges parties to 'sit together'

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Sunday for a "lowering of rhetoric" between Qatar and a four-nation group led by Saudi Arabia after Doha denounced their sweeping list of demands. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want Qatar to meet their 13-point ultimatum in return for an end to a diplomatic and trade "blockade" of the emirate. He also called for Qatar and neighbors to "sit together" to work through the list.

Spain

Fire hits reserve, 1,800 evacuated

Hundreds of firefighters battled on Sunday to contain a fire after it broke out at a nature reserve in southern Spain, prompting the evacuation of more than 1,800 people, authorities said. Many of the evacuees were staying at a camp site, the Andalusian authorities said. No injuries were reported. Authorities were not able to speculate on the scale of the fire as it was still not under control.

Iraq

Govt forces push deep into Mosul

Iraqi forces battled deep into the devastated historical heart of Mosul and closed in fast on the last pockets of jihadists on Sunday, eight months into an epic battle to retake the city. Three years after overrunning Mosul and making it the de facto Iraqi capital of the "caliphate" they proclaimed, the jihadists only controlled about 1 square km in the city.

Cuba

More tourists to visit this year

The country will welcome 4.2 million tourists this year, 200,000 more than last year, a tourism official said on Sunday. Cuba has seen a tourism boom in recent years and the arrivals hit a record high of more than 4 million in 2016, said Dalila Gonzalez, deputy director of marketing for the Cuban Tourism Ministry, after Spanish airline Plus Ultra said that it will open a new direct route between Barcelona and Havana.