SYRIA: Ten Kurdish teachers have been reported as kidnapped in the Syrian canton of Afrin, which is occupied by Turkish forces and their jihadist allies.

The teachers – seven of whom are women – were employed at three different schools and were abducted after school hours. There whereabouts is unknown.

They have been named as Sediqa Xelil, Ronahi Sexsidi, Behzat Xelil, Resit Bayram, Ronya, Berivan, Nesrin and Juliyet.

LIBYA: The first local elections in five years took place on Saturday with nine out of 69 municipalities voting in the south and west of the country.

Turnout was 38 per cent and no violence or sabotage was reported by the election authorities. Libya created 120 local councils in 2013, with some going to the polls the following year.

“We’ll go on each Saturday until 33 councils hold their elections then we resume after the holy month of Ramadan so all councils are elected,” elections commission chief Salem Bentahia said.

AFGHANISTAN: Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum survived a second assassination attempt on Saturday in which one of his bodyguards was killed.

The Taliban said it was responsible for the ambush of his convoy in Balkh Province, in northern Afghanistan.

It was the second attempt to kill Mr Dostum after the former warlord returned to the country from self-imposed exile last July.