By Ahmed Rasheed and Patrick Markey BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi army units surged toward the center of Mosul on Tuesday in an attack from the city's southeastern edges that could give fresh impetus to the seven-week-old battle for Islamic State's Iraqi stronghold.

By John Davison and Stephanie Nebehay BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's army and allies pushed into rebel-held parts of Aleppo's Old City on Tuesday, a monitoring group said, looking closer than ever to achieving their most important victory of the five-year-old civil war by driving rebels out of their last urban stronghold.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - At least 25 people have been killed after a strong earthquake struck Indonesia's northern Aceh province, the Indonesian disaster management agency said on Wednesday. "Search and rescue teams have found 25 dead victims and 26 seriously injured," the agency said in a statement. (Reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Paul Tait)

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has shipped 11 tonnes of heavy water abroad to bring its stock back under a limit set by its landmark nuclear deal with major powers, according to a diplomat citing a confidential U.N. nuclear watchdog report. The shipment is a step toward resolving a dispute with Western powers including the United States that are keen to prevent Iran from testing the deal's terms.

By Ben Blanchard and Bill Barreto BEIJING/GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - China called on U.S. officials on Tuesday not to let Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen pass through the United States en route to Guatemala next month, days after President-elect Donald Trump irked Beijing by speaking to Tsai in a break with decades of precedent. The U.S.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Relatives of Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho plan to take fresh court action in a bid to prevent the U.S. government from seizing assets as part of an investigation into the scandal-tainted 1MDB fund, according to a U.S. court filing.

By Sarah Marsh and Matt Spetalnick HAVANA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cuba and the United States will draw up a roadmap for deepening their detente on Wednesday in a first meeting since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and the death of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. The fifth U.S.-Cuban bilateral commission comes at a time of increased uncertainty about the future of U.S.

By Christian Hartmann EVRY, France (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared on Monday that he would seek the Socialist Party's nomination for next year's presidential election and said he was quitting the government to focus on campaigning.

By Ayman al-Sahli MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan forces said on Monday they were close to securing a final patch of land where Islamic State militants have been holding out in their former North African stronghold of Sirte.

By Kaori Kaneko and Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor this month, the first by a Japanese leader, will not be to apologize for the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the United States into World War Two, Abe's top aide said on Tuesday.