News in Brief - Sat, Aug, 01, 2015 - 12:30 GMT

1. Kurdish sources are reporting that at least nine civilians have been killed and over a dozen more injured in Turkey's fresh airstrikes in northern Iraq. The attacks hit targets in a village near Qandil mountains. Nearly 260 Kurds have died in Turkey's weeklong airstrikes on Kurdistan Workers Party targets.

2. Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government has called on PKK militants to leave northern Iraq. The office of President Massoud Barzani says the PKK should leave northern Iraq in order to prevent civilian casualties in Turkish airstrikes. Turkey has launched hundreds of airstrikes against PKK targets inside Iraq since last week.

3. The new Taliban leader has urged the militants under his command to continue the insurgency in Afghanistan. Mullah Akhtar Mansour has also called for unity among loyal militants. Mansour was appointed as Taliban’s new leader on Thursday after the death of the group’s former leader was confirmed.

4. Syrian forces have killed at least 25 foreign-backed militants after repulsing an ambush on a makeshift army base outside the northern city of Aleppo. According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human rights, three senior militant leaders were among the dead. Nine Syrian soldiers also died during the clashes.

5. Former US presidential candidate Ron Paul says America has turned Russia into an enemy for the interests of its military-industrial complex. Paul strongly criticized the aggressive actions of the US government and its warmongering policies around the world. He said Americans must not allow the government to start nonsense wars.

6. Israel is resorting to damage control tactics amid growing condemnation of an arson attack by settlers which killed a Palestinian toddler. President Reuven Rivlin admitted that Tel Aviv hasn't done enough to combat Jewish terrorism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the attack as an act of terror.

7. Data released by the EU’s statistical office shows there are more than 23 million unemployed people in the EU. The data says 31,000 people lost their jobs in the eurozone during June. According to Eurostat, unemployment rate among young adults in Greece, Spain, Italy and Croatia stands at 50 percent.

8. At least eight civilians have been killed in Saudi Arabia’s latest airstrikes on Yemen. The victims lost their lives after Saudi warplanes targeted a residential area in Lahij province. Earlier on Saturday, Saudi jets pounded several areas in Ma’arib, Hajjah and Aden provinces, killing several people.

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