ANKARA -- The Turkish courts sentenced 14 people to jail terms on Friday over their links to the extremist Islamic State (IS), state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Last week, Turkish authorities arrested 40 people suspected of links to the IS financial network after a 9-month investigation. (Turkey-IS)

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BAGHDAD -- The death toll of a bomb explosion in Iraq's holy Shiite city of Karbala on Friday evening rose to 12, the Iraqi military said.

"The explosion of an explosive device inside a minibus near the main checkpoint at the entrance of Karbala resulted in the death of 12 citizens and wounding five others, according to reports from Karbala provincial Health Department," the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operation Command (JOC) said in a statement. (Iraq-Explosion)

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BEIRUT -- Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian reviewed on Friday several achievements of China in the past 70 years.

In an exclusive interview with local TV Channel OTV, Wang used detailed data to introduce China's great achievements in the fields of economic development, social and people's livelihood, poverty alleviation, as well as positive contribution to the world. (China-Lebanon-Achievements)

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SANAA -- The Houthis in Yemen on Friday announced a peace initiative to stop attacks on Saudi Arabia with drones and ballistic missiles, a senior Houthi official was cited by the Houthi-controlled al-Masirah TV.

"We announce the stop of targeting Saudi soil with drones and ballistic missiles," Mahdi al-Mashat, the Houthi president of the Supreme Political Council, said in a speech to mark his group's fifth year of revolution against the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. (Yemen-Houthis) Enditem

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