Damascus / AFP Syrian government troops on Tuesday took control of a central rebel-held district in Aleppo city, where the army is pressing an operation to retake opposition territory, a military source said. “The army retook control of all of the Farafira district northwest of the Aleppo citadel after neutralising many terrorists. Units are now demining the area,” the …

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey has dismissed 87 staff from its spy agency over alleged links to the failed July 15 coup, state media said on Tuesday, in the first purge of one of the country’s most powerful institutions. The National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) has suspended 141 personnel in an internal probe over links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who …

  Tehran / AFP Iran is not ready to compromise on the issues of intelligence sharing, sanctions and definitions of terrorist groups in order to join an international task force against terror financing, a minister said on Tuesday. Iran, along with North Korea, is blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and aims to be removed from “high risk …

  Tehran / AFP Former hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday he will not compete in next year’s presidential vote, following advice from Iran’s supreme leader, media reported. “In following the will of the great leader of the revolution, I have no plans to be present in next year’s presidential competitions,” he wrote in a letter to Ayatollah …

  Tunis / AFP An appeal from Tunisia’s highest religious authority for workers to end strikes and protests and save the country’s ailing economy stirred outrage on Tuesday. Grand Mufti Othman Battikh on Monday called on Tunisians to “dedicate all their efforts to working and studying” and to “abandon untimely protests and sit-ins hindering work and production”. His remarks came …

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG is nearing an agreement to operate airplanes now flying under the Air Berlin Plc banner, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, letting Lufthansa bolster its discount flights as Air Berlin cuts back its routes. Lufthansa’s supervisory board on Wednesday will review a plan to let its Eurowings low-cost arm use about 40 …

  Bloomberg Avianca Brasil, one of the airlines controlled by Jose and German Efromovich, is seeking to sell an ownership stake of as much as 20 percent for more than $150 million, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The carrier hired UBS Group AG to advise on the potential transaction and the sale process has started, said …

  Bloomberg EasyJet Plc appointed Christine Browne, a former executive at tour operator TUI AG’s airline division, as chief operating officer amid efforts to reduce costs and ride out turmoil across the European market that’s eating into the discount carrier’s profit. Browne, 56, will leave a non-executive post on EasyJet’s board to take up her new position as of Oct. …

  AP Fifteen current and former Air France workers went on trial on Tuesday for alleged violence during a union protest last year at the airline’s headquarters that saw two company executives flee over a fence with their shirts ripped off. The incident, caught on camera, was a high-profile example of the often strained relations between French workers and their …

  Emirates Business Theluxurycloset.com, the fast growing online marketplace that buys, sells, and consigns personal luxury goods, mostly pre-owned and at a discounted price, announced that it has closed a $7.8 million Series B round of funding. The financing was led by Wamda Capital, a venture capital firm investing in technology-enabled companies in the MENA region, and Middle East Venture …