Mosul / AFP Iraqi forces piled pressure on the IS group around Mosul on Thursday, moving closer to cutting off the extremists’ escape route west to Syria and thrusting deeper into the east of the city. Pro-government paramilitaries advancing on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city’s west approaches, entered its airport, while troops moving up from the ...

  Moscow / AFP Russian air strikes have killed at least 30 extremists in rebel-held Idlib province in northwestern Syria, the defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The strikes, which began on Tuesday, were part of a major operation against extremists in Idlib and Homs which saw the first missions carried out by Russian warplanes taking off from ...

  Dhaka / AFP A Bangladesh court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the country’s opposition leader after she failed to appear for a hearing over the date of her birthday. The bizarre controversy, which has been raging for more than a decade, centres on the fact that Khaleda Zia celebrates her birthday on August 15, the day Bangladesh’s former ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkish police on Thursday detained the pro-Kurdish co-mayor of the southeastern city of Van in the latest raids targeting municipal chiefs, expanding a widespread crackdown that has sparked international concern. Bekir Kaya was taken into custody as part of a “terror investigation”, the official news agency Anadolu reported, saying he was accused of membership of the outlawed ...

  Brussels / AFP European Union member states on Thursday approved visa-free travel for Ukraine citizens, long sought by Kiev to help cement ties as it combats pro-Russian rebels in the east. Visa-free travel was part of an EU-Ukraine partnership accord signed in 2014 as the country, a Soviet-era satellite, angered Moscow by casting its lot with the West. In return ...

  Paris / AFP Despite voting to leave the EU, Britain is deepening defence ties with France, agreeing to pool missile development research centres in a step presented on Thursday as “historic”. European countries have been slow to pool arms know-how, fearing an erosion of their sovereignty. The deal announced at a Franco-British defence council in Paris goes much further than ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business GCC airlines should transform their distribution business models and how they sell to customers, according to a recent study by management consultancy Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company), part of the PwC network. Three trends are reshaping the GCC’s travel sector and threaten to weaken the connection between airlines and their customers: 1) shifting customer behavior ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business UAE Exchange, the leading global remittance, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand, announced recently that it has signed a strategic partnership with Fujairah Government Human Resources Department (FHRD). Through this alliance UAE Exchange will offer special benefits with regards to the financial services and solutions provided to employees working in government entities in the Emirate ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business UAE Exchange, the leading global remittance, foreign exchange and payment solutions provider, partnered with Sony PlayStation for co-branding its popular multicurrency prepaid card, ‘gocash’. Commenting on the tie-up, Rajesh G K, Chief Product Officer, UAE Exchange, said: “Sony PlayStation is a great brand to engage Millennials. Through this association, the Sony PlayStation customers will experience ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Digital Marketing Summit – Outreach 2016 successfully concluded its second edition on Thursday at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Dubai. The two-day event featured a diverse line up of more than 40 marketing experts, entrepreneurs and influencers from major local and international organizations, such as Twitter, Coca-Cola, DHL, Landmark, Sky News Arabia, Careem, Fetchr, ...