News in Brief - Sun, July, 05, 2015 - 04:30 GMT

1. The latest Saudi airstrike against Yemen has hit a school in Sa’ada. Earlier, some thirty Yemenis were killed after Saudi jets struck a bazaar in Hajjah province. Two Yemeni children also lost their lives in another attack on a residential area in Lahij province.

2. ISIL has released a video, showing the execution of 25 Syrian soldiers by young terrorists in Palmyra. The execution reportedly happened shortly after the terrorist group overran the ancient city on May 21. ISIL has reportedly carried out more than 200 executions in and around Palmyra when it captured the city.

3. Art crime experts say the ISIL is smuggling Syrian and Iraqi artifacts into Britain to raise money for its terrorist activities. The items include tiny statues and fragments of bone inlay worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. UNESCO has earlier warned about the scale of looting in Iraq and Syria.

4.  Syrian government forces are engaged in heavy clashes with foreign-backed militants in several fronts in western Aleppo. Army soldiers, backed by airstrikes, are trying to push back the terrorists after they invaded government-held districts of the city on Thursday. The militants have been controlling eastern Aleppo since spring 2013.

5. Rallies have been held in several countries to express solidarity with Greeks as they vote in a referendum on bailout proposals offered by the country's international creditors. Athens has urged people to reject the cash-for-reform proposals, but the public remains divided on whether to trust the government once again.

6. A group of anti-austerity protesters have interrupted the German chancellor’s speech during her party's 70th anniversary in Berlin. The demonstrators chanted NO in Greek in support of a No vote in Greece’s referendum on its international creditors’ terms for a new bailout. Angela Merkel responded by saying Yes in Greek.

7. Newly disclosed documents by WikiLeaks show the United States wiretapped 29 key Brazilian officials, including President Dilma Rousseff. The whistleblower website says the US also spied on officials in charge of the country’s economy. The German chancellor and three successive French presidents have also been the targets of US surveillance.

8. More than 200 Nigerians have reportedly lost their lives in a series of Boko Haram attacks since Wednesday. Only on Friday night, the terrorists raided a northeastern village, killing large numbers of people. A young female terrorist also killed a dozen worshippers after blowing her explosives in a mosque on Thursday.

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