Bashiqa /AFP Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from the IS group, an official said on Tuesday, as US-backed militia forces advanced on the extremists’ Syrian stronghold Raqa. Capturing Bashiqa was one of the final steps in securing the eastern approaches to Mosul, three weeks into an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the …

  Berlin /AFP German police on Tuesday arrested five men suspected of links to the IS organisation, who allegedly sought to recruit fighters for the jextremist group. “The five accused formed a pan-regional extremist network, with the accused Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A. taking on the leading role,” said a statement from the prosecutors’ office, referring to the 32-year-old Iraqi. “The …

  Berlin / AFP Germany is open to providing protection for Turks who have been “politically persecuted” by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in its widening crackdown following a failed putsch, a senior German official said on Tuesday. “Critics in Turkey should know that the German government stands in solidarity with them,” Michael Roth, state secretary at the foreign ministry, told Die …

  Paris / AFP French investigators have identified a Moroccan-Belgian extremist based in Syria as a key plotter of attacks in Paris and Brussels, sources said on Tuesday, announcing a breakthrough in their multi-country probe. Oussama Atar, a 32-year-old believed to be a member of the IS group, was already a suspect in the March 22 attacks on Brussels but …

  Goma /AFP A young girl was killed and 31 Indian peacekeepers were injured Tuesday in a grenade explosion in Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN said. “A grenade exploded regretably killing a girl of roughly eight-years-old… another civilian was injured,” said Bilamekaso Tchagbele, the information chief for the UN’s force in the country. The blue helmets …

  Hong Kong / AFP Hundreds of lawyers and law students, all dressed in black, marched silently through Hong Kong on Tuesday in protest at a ruling by China which effectively bars two pro-independence legislators from taking office. They snaked peacefully through the city from the high court to the court of final appeal after the unprecedented decision on Monday, …

  Ramallah/ AFP A museum dedicated to Yasser Arafat, including the room where the Palestinian leader spent much of his final years under Israeli siege, will open on Wednesday ahead of the anniversary of his death. Current Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will formally open the Yasser Arafat Museum next to the gravesite of the fighter-turned-statesman in Ramallah in the occupied …

  Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, received HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, at his palace in Zabeel on Tuesday afternoon. Sheikh Mohammed welcomed Prince Charles in the presence of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, HH Sheikh …

Dubai / WAM Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General of the Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau, on Tuesday welcomed HRH The Prince of Wales to the Expo 2020 Dubai site. The Prince of Wales, an advocate of youth empowerment through his Prince’s Trust charity, met with many of Expo’s younger members of staff, and heard …

  Dubai / Emirates Business It was a ‘ready, set, conserve’ morning, as Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) hosted the Hospitality Sustainability Board Game, the inaugural activity of the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Initiative. Created specifically for the hotel industry, the game, held recently at Media One Hotel, engaged industry professionals from across the city, as they …