News in Brief - Fri, Sep, 04, 2015 - 04:30 GMT

1. Saudi warplanes continue their relentless airstrikes on impoverished Yemen. The latest air raids targeted the capital Sana’a. Warplanes also conducted several airstrikes on the old dam and residential areas of Ma’rib province. More than 5,100 Yemenis have been killed since Saudi Arabia launched its aggression on March 26.

2. Turkey’s parliament has extended by one year a mandate which allows military operations against the Daesh terrorists and Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq . The current mandate expires on October 2. It also allows foreign forces to use Turkish territory for operations against the Daesh, also known as ISIL.

3. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has described the recent call by Israel for so-called peace talks as nothing but a PR stunt. Erekat says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has actively worked against a sustainable two-state solution. This, after Netanyahu said he was ready to go to Ramallah to talk with Palestinians.

4. More people in Britain are signing a petition on the parliament website, which calls on the government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his upcoming visit to London. So far, over 97,000 people have signed the petition. The petitioners criticize Israel for its war crimes against Palestinians.

5. A shooting at a Sacramento community college in the US state of California has killed one person and injured two others. The shooter who police say is a man of Pacific Island descent is still at large. Sacramento City College was placed on lockdown after the incident.

6. Iran censures Kuwaiti media propaganda against the country in connection with the confiscation of arms and ammunition in the Arab nation. Iran’s Embassy in Kuwait also voiced deep dissatisfaction with the systematic negative campaign against bilateral relations. The Iranian embassy says the allegations have not been verified by the authorities.

7. Two Catholic priests in the US state of Minnesota have been removed for alleged sex abuse. The priests, Joseph Gallatin and Robert Fitzgerald, are accused of sexually abusing minors. In April, an American bishop resigned after being convicted of failing to report a priest suspected of child sex abuse.

8. The UN blasts the failure of the international community to protect asylum seekers displaced by the conflict in Syria. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria says the migrant crisis in Europe is a direct consequence of that failure. The panel says no one has adequately shouldered the responsibility to protect the refugees.

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