A member of Iraqi forces flashes the sign of victory atop an armored vehicle on February 8, 2016 in the Jwaibah area, on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi. AFP
Here is a round-up of global news developments:
- The Iraqi army is advancing against Daesh terrorists in the west. The forces have retaken a strategic area near the newly-liberated Ramadi which links the city to a major army base. Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has promised to cleanse the whole country from ISIL terrorists this year.
- A deadly twin bomb attack rips through a district, north of the Syrian capital Damascus. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least eight people have been killed and nearly 20 others wounded in the attack that hit a market in Masaken Barzeh.
- The Saudi-backed Syrian opposition calls on Russia to stop its airstrikes on militant-held areas as a condition for peace talks with the government in Damascus. A representative of the High Negotiations Committee Monzer Makhous says Russia's aerial campaign in Syria is complicating the situation there.
- Several people have been killed and over one hundred others wounded in a train crash in southern Germany. Police say two trains collided near Bad Aibling, southeast of Munich in Bavaria. Reports say one train derailed, causing several wagons to overturn.
- Palestinians close the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the occupied West Bank in support of a hunger-striking journalist in an Israeli jail. During the protest near Ramallah, the demonstrators voiced their anger at the body’s silence on the condition of Mohammad al-Qiq.
- The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council says cutting off funding to Daesh is the most effective way to tackle the terrorist group. Addressing an anti-terrorism conference in Tehran, Ali Shamkhani said that Daesh is a tool that justifies the US presence in the Middle East.
- The personal information of thousands of employees of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation have been leaked in a major security breach. A hacker managed to post the information of up to 20-thousand F-B-I employees online.
- Fresh clashes have erupted between Turkish security forces and pro-Kurdish protesters in the southern city of Diyarbakir. Police used water cannon and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters angered by an earlier deadly crackdown in the town of Jizre and the Sur district of Diyarbakir.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:
www.presstv.co.uk