From ISIS attacks to a French apology: non-coronavirus news you may have missed

A protester has died after being hit by a car in Seattle and the Iraqi Prime Minister has appointed a new National Security head

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi appointed a new national security adviser and head of the National Security Agency. Prime Minister Media Office

Iraq PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi reshuffles top security posts

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi has appointed Major General Abdul Ghani Al Asadi as head of the National Security Agency, government sources confirmed to The National on Saturday.

Gen Al Asadi will replace Faleh Al Fayadh, head of the Popular Mobilisation Units paramilitary grouping, the sources said.

The move marks another step by Mr Al Kadhimi towards fulfilling his promise to reassert state sovereignty after taking office in early May.

Gen Al Asadi served in Iraq’s Special Operations Forces until his retirement was ordered by former prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in 2018. He was a key commander in the government forces’ US-backed campaign against ISIS in Iraq.

Protester hit by car on closed Seattle highway dies

Orange crosses surround spots of blood on the Interstate 5 motorway in Seattle on which protesters Summer Taylor, 24, and Diaz Love, 32, were struck by a car. Taylor died less than 24 hours later, and Ms Love is in a critical condition in hospital. AP

A 24-year-old woman died on Saturday after she and another woman were hit by a car on a closed highway in Seattle while protesting against police brutality, authorities said.

Summer Taylor, who was from the city, died in the evening at Harborview Medical Centre, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, were hit when the vehicle barrelled through a panicking crowd of protesters on Interstate 5 early on Saturday morning, officials said.

Ms Love is in a serious condition in the intensive care unit at Harborview, Ms Gregg said.

Dozens killed in ISIS and regime clashes in Syria, monitor says

An undated image, which appears to be a screenshot from a video and which was published by the Islamic State group in the Homs province (Welayat Homs) on August 25, 2015, allegedly shows smoke billowing from the Baal Shamin temple in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra. The temple was reportedly destroyed by the extremist group and news of its demolition sparked international condemnation earlier this week. AFP PHOTO / HO / WELAYAT HOMS === RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HO / WELAYAT HOMS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS FROM ALTERNATIVE SOURCES, AFP IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIGITAL ALTERATIONS TO THE PICTURE'S EDITORIAL CONTENT, DATE AND LOCATION WHICH CANNOT BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED === (Photo by - / WELAYAT HOMS / AFP)

Clashes between Russia-backed Syrian regime forces and the Islamic State group have killed more than 50 fighters on both sides in two days, a Britain-based war monitor said on Saturday.

Fighting and Russian air strikes in the central desert province of Homs since late Thursday have claimed the lives of 20 pro-government fighters and 31 militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The fighting started in the night of Thursday to Friday with a jihadist assault on regime positions" near the town of Al-Sukhna, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Algeria expects France to apologise for colonial past, president says

Algeria is waiting for an apology for France's colonial occupation of the North African country, the president said, expressing hope that his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron would build on recent conciliatory overtures.

A global reexamination of the legacy of colonialism has been unleashed by the May killing of unarmed African American George Floyd by a white police officer, which sparked mass protests around the world.

An Algerian woman holds a drawing of a fights as she mourns over one of the national flag-draped coffins containing the remains of 24 Algerian resistance fighters decapitated during the French occupation of the country, at the Moufdi-Zakaria culture palace in Algiers, Algeria, 4 July, 2020. EPA

"We have already had half-apologies. The next step is needed... we await it," President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Saturday in an interview with news channel France 24.

"I believe that with President Macron, we can go further in the appeasement process... he is a very honest man, who wants to improve the situation."

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