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Iraqi troops push into area around symbolic Mosul mosque
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqi forces battling Islamic State militants in Mosul have approached the mosque where the leader of the extremist group declared its self-styled caliphate in the summer of 2014.
Black smoke billowed from the area around al-Nuri mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, as helicopters hovered overhead and fired down. At least two large mushroom clouds were seen rising from what is believed to be suicide car bomb explosions, according to live Associated Press footage.
IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivered a Friday sermon in al-Nuri mosque in July 2014 after the extremist group seized almost a third of Iraq, declaring an Islamic caliphate in the areas under his group's control in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish forces have made steady advances against the extremist group since then with the help of a U.S.-led air campaign, retaking a number of towns and cities.
Iraq launched a massive operation in October to retake Mosul, its second largest city and the IS group's last major urban bastion in the country. Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated" in January and are now locked in a fierce battle for the city's more densely populated western half.
3 young people killed, 6 injured in car collision in Sweden
HELSINKI (AP) -- Swedish police and rescue officials say that three young people were killed in a collision of two cars in northern Sweden, and six others have been injured.
Ulf Axelsson, head of rescue operations, said that at least two of the injured were children in child seats. He gave no further details.
The crash occurred on a bend of a main highway near Lycksele in the northern province of Lapland in what rescue services described as "slightly icy" conditions. However, police declined to confirm details pending an investigation.
Police spokesman Michael Liljenberg told Swedish news agency TT that a technical team would investigate before they could determine a possible cause of the collision.
Canadian wins $1M global teacher prize for work with Inuit
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A Canadian school teacher who encourages hope and acts of kindness in an isolated corner of Quebec won a $1 million prize Sunday in what has become one of the most high-profile awards for teaching excellence.
Maggie MacDonnell was awarded the annual Global Teacher Prize during a ceremony in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, beating out thousands of applicants from around the world.
She has worked for the past six years in a remote Arctic village called Salluit teaching middle and high schoolers. According to her biography, Salluit is home to the second northernmost Inuit indigenous community in Quebec, with a population of just over 1,300, and can only be reached by air.