UN’s Ban visits South Sudan to push for peace

In first trip since attending independence celebrations in 2011, UN chief to urge both sides to end five-month conflict. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in South Sudan to demand an... Read more »

Thai PM in court over abuse of power charges

Case against Yingluck Shinawatra relates to her replacement of country’s security chief with a relative in 2011. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has arrived at Thailand’s Constitutional Court to face charges of abuse of... Read more »

Bahraini police firebombed in Shiite village

A Bahraini police post in a small Shiite village near the capital was attacked by assailants throwing Molotov cocktails overnight, an interior ministry official said Tuesday. State security forces “repulsed the terrorist attack... Read more »

Cargo ship sinks, 12 missing near Hong Kong

HONG KONG: Twelve crew members from a Chinese cargo ship are missing after it collided with a container vessel and sank just outside Hong Kong waters on Monday, authorities said. “There are... Read more »

Students attacked by Hindu extremists

NEW DELHI: Once again Kashmir students came under attack by Hindu extremists at an educational institution in India. Three Kashmiri students were beaten up at a private university in the city of... Read more »

UN nuclear weapons inspectors arrive in Iran

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in Tehran to discuss with Iranian officials a safeguards approach for the country’s Arak heavy water plant in line with an agreement reached between... Read more »

Qatar Airways to increase flights to Saudi

Qatar Airways will double the number of weekly flights to Gassim from four to eight from May 15, while Madinah flights were recently increased from five to seven per week.The airline has also... Read more »

FBI chief: more Americans joining Syrian war

Comey compares Syrian war to Afghan conflict of 1980s and 1990s, with foreign fighters posing threat to home country. The flow of foreign fighters into Syria has grown in the last few... Read more »

Iran bans popular messaging service WhatsApp

Iran’s Committee on Internet Crimes says the Facebook co- founder Mark Zuckerberg is a Zionist and banned his recently acquired messaging system WhatsApp. Iran’s criminalization of WhatsApp on Friday. According to the... Read more »

Egypt court gives 102 Morsi supporters 10 year jail term

Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Saturday 102 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison, and two others to seven years, on charges of murder and rioting. The defendants were arrested... Read more »

Crackdown ordered after bombing in China

Uighur sources say more than 100 held over stabbing spree and blast in Xinjiang which President Xi just visited. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered a crackdown after a stabbing spree and... Read more »

IHRC appoints Veena Malik Goodwill Ambassador

ISLAMABAD: The International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has appointed Pakistani actress Veena Malik Goodwill Ambassador. Veena Malik was appointed during a ceremony held here on Friday and joins he husband who was... Read more »

WB approves $12 billion loan for Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has approved a $12 billion loan for cash-strapped Pakistan to be given out in a period of five years, the country’s finance ministry said on Friday. The finance... Read more »

Karachi shuts down as MQM calls to mourn killed workers

KARACHI: The country’s financial capital was shut down due to a call for observing a ‘day of mourning’ by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) against extrajudicial killings of its party members. The... Read more »

Deadly bomb explodes at Afghan checkpoint

A suicide attack in Panjshir province has killed at least 11 people, including six police officers, officials say. A suicide car bomb has killed at least 11 people, including six policemen, in... Read more »

Dutch police detain 31 Greenpeace activists

Activists attempt to stop Russian tanker carrying first oil produced by new Arctic platform from mooring in Rotterdam. (AP) Dutch police have detained 31 Greenpeace activists who attempted to prevent a Russian... Read more »

Jordan opens new refugee camp for Syrians

With no end in sight for Syria’s war, a new camp was set up to accommodate the increasing numbers of Syrian refugees. Azraq refugee camp, Jordan – A group of Syrian children flock... Read more »

Over 1,000 Iraqis killed in attacks last month

Official figures show more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed and nearly 1,400 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq last month. According to the latest figures released by the Iraqi... Read more »

Desmond Tutu ‘glad’ Nelson Mandela isn’t alive

Desmond Tutu ‘glad’ Nelson Mandela isn’t alive to witness state of South Africa.NOBEL peace laureate Desmond Tutu says he is glad Nelson Mandela is not alive to witness the current state of... Read more »

Pakistan under fire for media attacks

Amnesty International urges Islamabad to investigate military and spy agency for violating human rights of journalists. Pakistani authorities should investigate the country’s powerful military and intelligence agency for human rights abuses against... Read more »

Brunei adopts ‘phase one’ of Islamic law

Sultan launches new penal code that will eventually include stoning, amputation and flogging as punishments. The sultan of Brunei has announced a controversial new penal code based on Islamic criminal punishments criticised... Read more »

Nine killed in Syrian government airstrike on school

Activists on the ground say that a government airstrike has hit a school in Aleppo. The strike killed at least nine people, including three children, (AP). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says there was... Read more »

COAS witnesses Saudi military’s war exercise

RIYADH: Pakistans’ Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif has witnessed Saudi military’s war exercise “Shamsheer of Abdullah”. The military experts and chiefs of army staff of Gulf States were also... Read more »

Attacks hit Syria’s two major cities, kill 50 people

DAMASCUS: A car bomb went off in the central Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday, killing 36 people just hours after a mortar attack on the capital, Damascus, killed 14, government officials... Read more »