Abu Dhabi /Â WAM The number of red signal accidents at the intersections in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi had declined by 29 percent in the past eight months this year to 54 traffic accidents compared to 76 in the same period last year. Brig. Ali Khalfan Al Dhaheri, Director-General of Central Operations at Abu Dhabi Police, said that the ...
Read More »Global Muslim population spends highest on F&B
Dubai / Emirates Business The need for a standardised Halal food sector was highlighted in the recent Global Islamic Economy Summit, where it was revealed that the global Muslim population has the highest spending on food and beverage. HE Mohammed Saleh Badri, Secretary-General of International Halal Accreditation Forum, noted that the Halal food sector is growing at a remarkable ...
Read More »61 killed in Taliban-claimed attack on Pakistan police
Quetta /Â AFP Pakistan on Tuesday mourned the killing of at least 61 people in a brutal gun and suicide bomb assault on a police academy, the deadliest attack on a security installation in the country’s history. Three gunmen burst into the sprawling academy in the southwest, targeting sleeping quarters home to some 700 recruits in a strike that sent ...
Read More »Afghan Taliban use drone to film suicide attack
Kabul /Â AFP The Afghan Taliban have released aerial footage of a suicide car bombing in southern Helmand province, marking the first time the media-savvy militant group has used a drone to record an attack. The 23-minute video shows a suicide bomber ramming a Humvee into a military base in volatile Nawa district, triggering a mushroom cloud of flames and ...
Read More »Iraq retakes town attacked by IS
Rutba /Â AFP Iraqi security forces on Tuesday regained full control of a western town that was attacked by IS group militants two days earlier, officials said. Seeking to draw attention away from an offensive to retake the city of Mosul, IS struck the town of Rutba in the country’s west and Kirkuk in the north in recent days. “Our ...
Read More »Shabaab bomber hits Somalia AU base
Mogadishu /Â AFP A Shabaab suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into an African Union military base in central Somalia on Tuesday, a security official said. The explosion was followed by heavy gunfire at the Djiboutian base in the city of Beledweyne. Witness Ismail Mahad described seeing “clouds of smoke caused by the heavy blast” followed by “exchange ...
Read More »Powers discuss Mosul as troops near outskirts
Qaraqosh / AFP Iraqi forces were inching to within striking distance of eastern Mosul on Tuesday as defence chiefs from the US-led coalition met in Paris to review the offensive on the extremist bastion. Paramilitary forces were also massing near the battlefield to open a western front they say will aim to retake the town of Tal Afar and ...
Read More »FM: Turkey ‘may launch’ ground operation in Iraq
Ankara / AFP Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday Ankara could launch a ground operation in Iraq to remove any threats to Turkey that may arise. “If there is a threat posed to Turkey, we are ready to use all our resources including a ground operation… to eliminate that threat,” Cavusoglu said in an interview with Kanal ...
Read More »SE Asia faces rising threat from IS groups
Jakarta /Â AFP Southeast Asia faces a growing risk of extremist violence as IS group supporters increasingly work together, but law enforcement agencies are unprepared for the new threat, a report warned on Tuesday. The main danger lies in the strife-torn southern Philippines, where a handful of extremist groups have sworn allegiance to IS, according to the report from think-tank ...
Read More »Iran nuclear negotiator cleared of spying charges
Tehran /Â AFP Iran’s intelligence minister said on Tuesday that a British-Iranian member of its nuclear negotiating team had been cleared of spying allegations, state media reported. Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, part of the team that secured a nuclear accord with world powers last year, was arrested in August and described by a judiciary spokesman as an “infiltrating spy”. But in ...
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