Suicide bomb attack in Istanbul main shopping street kills 5 and injures dozens

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• A bomb attack in a busy shopping street in the Turkish city of Istanbul has killed at least 5 people and injured dozens of others. A senior official says initial findings indicate that the Kurdistan Workers Party or an affiliated militant group is behind the attack.
• Belgium’s federal prosecutor says five people involved in last year’s Paris attacks have been detained. Salah Abdeslam, the most wanted man behind the attacks, is among the detainees. Officials say Abdeslam was wounded in the leg during a police operation in the Molenbeek district of Brussels. 
• A former UN official believes the world body is collapsing due to what he calls colossal mismanagement. Anthony Banbury, who used to be in charge of the UN mission to combat Ebola in West Africa, says the United Nations has failed to uphold the principles for which it was established.
• US Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders says he will not attend next week’s US-Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC conference over his busy schedule. AIPAC has rejected his offer to address the conference via video. The largest Israeli lobby has a tradition of inviting all the presidential candidates to the conference.
• Yemen’s Ansarullah forces continue to fight against the Saudi-led foreign forces operating inside their country. The fighters have killed at least 30 Saudi-backed mercenaries during clashes in Dhubab district of Ta'izz province. Yesterday, they killed a number of mercenaries in rocket attacks in Jawf province.
• Rights activists in London have staged a rally to condemn the government’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The protesters marched on the residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron. The rally comes amid Riyadh’s relentless targeting and killing of civilians in its war on Yemen.
• Thousands of Brazilians have marched in the capital Brasilia and Sao Paulo in support of the embattled President Dilma Rousseff and her decision to appoint her predecessor as her chief of staff. Earlier, opposition groups staged a mass protest against Rousseff, demanding her impeachment over alleged corruption charges.
• The Syrian army, backed by Russian airstrikes, is pushing towards the historic town of Palmyra in an offensive to retake it from Daesh terrorist group. Local media say scores of ISIL terrorists have been either killed or wounded in the Syrian army's artillery fire near the town.

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