The Syrian rebel forces have pushed militants of IS group out of a strategic town in northern Syria after days of heavy fighting. Lina Sinjab is in neighboring Lebanon. Moderate rebel fighters from the Free Syrian Army have succeeded pushing IS militants out of the town of al-Rai in northern Aleppo province after days of heavy fighting. The town has been a crucial stronghold for IS as it sits on the crossing linking Syria to Turkey. This victory will be a morale-booster for the moderate opposition in their battle for Aleppo city as al-Rai secures a supply line for them from Turkey.
Prosecutors in Belgium have made a fresh appeal of help in the hunt for prime surviving suspect in last month's Brussels airport attack. He was seen on CCTV footage alongside two suicide bombers. The spokesman Eric Van der Sypt gave more details about the appeal. Its concerns that the third person present on the scene during the attacks in the Brussels airport, the so-called 'man with the hat' as well as the vest he was wearing at the time, especially appeal to people who might have filmed or taken a photograph of the suspect or link they can provide extra information on this issue. The suspect was seen, after the blasts, running among people trying to escape from the scene.
Politicians and relatives of mafia victims expressed outrage after the convicted son of the notorious Sicilian gangster Toto Riina appeared on prime time Italian television to promote his book. Hulia is in Rome. Salvatore Riina, a convicted mobster, was interviewed for half an hour, not once did he distanced himself from the violence his father was involved in during the mafia war of the 1980s which left more than 1000 died. Instead he spoke of the happy childhood with a family that had taught him important values. His father, Salvatore Toto Riina, spent years on the run before being captured in 1993. He was found guilty of several murders including the high-profile assassination of two anti-mafia judges in bomb attacks. Executives from the Italian state broadcast Rai have been summoned by members of the Italian parliament's anti-mafia commission to explain the decision to broadcast the interview.
A former head of the Italian defense group Finmeccanica Giuseppe Orsi has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison for false accounting in corruption. The case resulted from an investigating into the sale of 22 helicopters to India. World news from the BBC.
A court in Guatemala has convicted and sentenced five men to prison for the murder in 2011 of the Argentine musician Facundo Cabral who was hugely popular across Latin America. Prosecutors said he was an unintended vicim of an attack on a Nicaraguan nightclub owner Henry Farinas whose car he was in when it was riddled with bullets in an ambush.
Colombia has taken a step closer to allowing gay couples to marry. Constitutional court has given its general sanction to same-sex marriage though details are still to be worked out. Gay rights activists, with the support of president Juan Manuel Santos, argued that denying marriage to same-sex couples is discriminatory.
A South African court has ruled that Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has no rights to the late president's rural home. It's unclear if she'll appeal. Newton reports from Johannesburg. Judge was swift in his judgement. He spent just a couple of minutes to dismiss Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's application with costs. The anti-aprtheid struggle hero had argued that under customary law, the house in Qunu village where the former president spent much of his time until his death in 2013 belonged to her. Mr Mandela divorced Mrs Madikizela-Mandela in 1996 after 38 years of marriage. He left her out of his will. They were regarded as South Africa's first couple until their marriage collapsed 6 years after his release from 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid.
A successful Nigerian publishing house Cassava Republic has launched a branch in Britain. The founder told the BBC it was high time for a Nigerian publisher to set up in London. Cassava Republic will publish fiction and non-fiction as well as children's books and romance novels written by Africans and largely set on the continent. BBC news.