Niamey / AFP Thirty-two troops have been killed in a clash with Boko Haram extremists on Niger’s border with Nigeria, Niger’s defence ministry said on Saturday. “Hundreds of assailants” attacked a military post at Bosso on Friday evening, it said in a statement that gave a “provisional toll” of 30 Nigerien and two Nigerian soldiers killed and 67 wounded. ...

  Lagos / AFP Nigerian troops killed 19 Boko Haram militants during clashes in northeast Borno state, while two soldiers suffered gunshot wounds, the army said on Saturday. Acting upon an intelligence report on the presence of Boko Haram fighters in the militants’ Chukungudu camp, troops and civilian JTF (joint task force) members, launched the attack on Friday. “During the ...

  Beijing / AFP Chinese police have detained several activists while others were placed under surveillance for the anniversary of the bloody 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square, which was heavily policed on Saturday. On June 4 1989 military tanks rolled into the square in the centre of Beijing to crush pro-democracy protests, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians—by some estimates thousands. Nearly ...

  Paris / AFP Moscow on Saturday said for the first time it would agree to foreign monitors observing the separatist conflict in east Ukraine to carry arms. Kiev has been pushing for an armed observer mission in the area where the existing unarmed monitors of the fragile ceasefire between government forces and Russia-backed separatists have reported an upsurge in violence. ...

  Istanbul / AFP The German parliament resolution recognising as genocide the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire has “no value” and won’t change Turkey’s position on the matter, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Erdogan said he wondered how German officials could look Turkey’s leaders in the face after Thursday’s vote in the Bundestag, which prompted Ankara ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Now, Smart Dubai Government’s innovative app that features more than 50 smart services provided by 22 government entities, has won the ‘Best Government Mobile App of the Year’ category at the ‘.GOV Awards 2016’ held recently in Dubai. The award-winning app offers customers a set of service packages built to meet their needs and ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai has launched ‘Happiness Lounges’ in three of its service centres, creating an exceptional environment of high quality services and world-class efficiencies to customers visiting these centres for transactions related to business registration and licensing. The initiative follows the order of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin ...

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The Ministry of Finance (MoF), in collaboration with the UN office in UAE, recently organised a workshop on the definition and measurement of happiness; to reflect its commitment to the directives of the federal government. The workshop showcased results of the 2016 Happiness Report, government plans and programmes that enhance levels of happiness and ...

  Emirates Business Gulf Medical University (GMU) established in 1998, the most sought-after private medical university in the region located at Ajman, UAE recently announced that it had started inviting applications for the upcoming academic year. As soon as the announcement was made, the Admissions Department of GMU started receiving a flood of applications for the different medical courses conducted ...

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The issues of obesity and weight loss were the focus of AlMansoori Specialized Engineering’s annual health day, held at the Hilton Hotel, Abu Dhabi, recently. About 250 people attended the event, organised by the leading oilfield services company in the Middle East. Speakers discussed topics including Obesity 101, the impact of weight gain on ...