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ity -- late on Monday, following days of fighting in the country's second-largest city, a former al-Qaida stronghold situated in what has long been one of the more restive parts of Iraq. The gunmen also torched several of the city's police stations, freeing detainees held in lockups.
• The fighters are believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaida splinter group that is behind the bulk of the bloody attacks in Iraq and is among the most ruthless rebel forces fighting to topple President Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria. The group has also tried to position itself as a champion for Iraq's large and disaffected Sunni minority.
• Several worried Mosul residents reported seeing the gunmen hoisting the black flags inscribed with the Islamic declaration used by ISIL, al-Qaida and other jihadist groups.
• As the militants worked to consolidate control over Mosul, a powerful blast struck a funeral in the central city of Baqouba, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. The city, a onetime flashpoint between insurgents and U.S. forces, is home to both Sunnis and Shiites.
• ___

• KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- On paper, the Ukrainian trading firm known as Mistral dealt in management consulting and research, doing millions of dollars' worth of deals before going bust after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was chased out of office earlier this year.
• But when police recently tried to visit Mistral's Kiev office at No. 12 Saperne Pole Street, they found a huge hole in the ground, the foundation of an apartment complex to be completed next year. There was no trace of Mistral, whose name refers to a type of wind.
• A receptionist at No. 5 on that street said there used to be a wine warehouse at the site, but it was cleared when construction began in 2011. Apartment numbers now jump from 9 to 22.
• Officials tasked with cleaning the country's corruption-scarred tax system say the company didn't merely enter the wrong address. They say Mistral may never have existed in the first place -- one of scores or even hundreds of phantom firms suspected of squeezing a total of 130 billion hryvnias ($11 billion) from Kiev's coffers over the past three years. The country's total tax revenue amounted to 210 billion

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