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Turkey has called on the US to reverse its decision to arm Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) fighters battling so-called Islamic State.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the fight against the jihadists should not involve “another terrorist group”.

Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.

Washington disagrees and insists the YPG is needed to capture IS-held Raqqa. The YPG leads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias that has driven IS militants from about 6,000 sq km (2,300 sq miles) of northern Syria over the past two years with the help of US-led coalition air strikes.

On Wednesday evening, the SDF said it had taken seized the strategically important town of Tabqa, 40km (25 miles) west of Raqqa, and its nearby dam.
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A man has been charged with using drones to smuggle cannabis, steroids and mobile phones into prison.

Michael Tovey, 27, formerly of Lakes Road, Erdington, Birmingham is accused of using two drones to fly contraband into HMP Birmingham last year.

In the first charges of their type brought by West Midlands Police, Mr Tovey faces 13 counts of conveying banned items into a prison. He is set to appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 7 June.

Mr Tovey is accused of using two drones to drop contraband into the prison’s exercise yard on 29 October and 6 November. He attempted to drop a consignment near N and P wings containing four phones, SIM cards, Black Mamba, steroids and cannabis, it is alleged.

It is claimed he was also responsible for a drone that crashed into the same yard eight days later, carrying two phones and further quantities of the same banned drugs.

German police have carried out anti-terrorism raids in four states, targeting suspected members and supporters of so-called Islamic State.

Homes and properties were searched in Bavaria, Berlin, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt during the pre-dawn operation, federal prosecutors say.

Police were looking for three suspects – two of them are believed to be IS members and the third a supporter of the jihadist group. No arrests have been made.

After suffering a series of deadly attacks last year, Germany has been in fear of further violence.

On Tuesday, the authorities made an arrest linked to an alleged plot to murder a senior public figure.

US President Donald Trump has fired the director of the FBI over his handling of the inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails, the administration says.

The White House shocked Washington by announcing that James Comey “has been terminated and removed from office”. But Democrats said he was fired because the FBI was investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The move came as it emerged Mr Comey gave inaccurate information to Congress last week about Mrs Clinton’s emails.

An FBI investigation into her use of a private email server to store sensitive information while secretary of state remains closed. Mr Comey said in July last year it was careless but not criminal.

The White House said the search for a successor for Mr Comey would begin immediately. It is only the second time the head of the FBI has been fired.

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The Gare du Nord train station in the French capital Paris has reopened after a security alert, officials say.

Platforms were evacuated and the area cordoned off by heavily armed police late on Monday evening. No details have been given about the operation in one of Europe’s busiest transport hubs. But local media report that police were looking for three suspects.

France is under a state of emergency since the Paris attacks of 2015.

Security had been stepped up across the country for the second round of the presidential election, which happened on Sunday.

Le Parisien newspaper (in French) said the operation focused on a train from Valenciennes, in northern France.

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