Top Shia cleric urges army to protect lives of civilians in Fallujah

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• A leading Iraqi Shia cleric has urged government forces to practice restraint in their battle to recapture the city of Fallujah from Daesh terrorists. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has called on government forces to make sure the lives of civilians trapped in the city are protected.
• The secretary general of Hezbollah’s resistance movement has described Israel as the greatest enemy of Lebanon, Palestine and the region as a whole. In a speech marking the 16th anniversary of victory against Israel, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Lebanese nation must remember the crimes Israel has committed since its creation in 1948.
• The Iraqi army is advancing on the fourth day of its operation to drive Daesh terrorists out of Fallujah. Troops are now trying to liberate the city of Khaldiyah, northwest of Fallujah. Government forces have so far managed to liberate the villages of Jamilah and Albu Odeh northeast of the city.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed profound resentment about the death of a young Japanese woman on Okinawa Island. A former U-S Marine has been arrested over the incident. Abe has warned that it will be hard to realign U-S forces on the island if residents’ trust is lost.
• A group of U-S lawmakers have accused Saudi Arabia of sponsoring terrorism and propagating extremist ideology around the world. This comes pending a Senate debate on a bill already passed in the House which allows victims of Nine-Eleven attacks to seek compensation from Saudi Arabia over its alleged links with the attacks.
• Fast-food workers in the United States are set to march on the McDonald's Corporation headquarters near Chicago to demand a raise. The protest comes ahead of the fast-food giant's annual shareholders' meeting. The nationwide push for a 15-dollar minimum wage began in 2012.
• France is bracing for more strikes over proposed controversial labor laws. The General Confederation of Labor Union says it is preparing for a walkout at a nuclear plant. It has also announced train and subway strikes. The walkouts have already hit refineries, triggering fuel shortages.
• The German cabinet has approved a raft of new measures aimed at assimilating more than one million refugees entered the country last year. The measures would help provide asylum seekers with better access to the German job market. They also foresee the creation of some 100-thousand government-funded job opportunities for the refugees.

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