At least 13 suspected militants killed in fresh North Waziristan airstrikes

PESHAWAR: At least 13 suspected militants were killed and their hideouts were destroyed Wednesday in air strikes carried out by fighter jets in the Shawal tehsil of North Waziristan.

Sources claimed that the jet strikes destroyed at least six hideouts in the Shawal mountains and the area near Dattakhel.

However, these claims could not be independently verified.

Air strikes were also carried out late on Tuesday.

Blast in Assam Kills One, Injures Three Others

Goalpara:  One person was killed and three others injured in a blast in front of a police station in Assam's Goalpara district today.

Police say at around 8 am, an IED or Improvised explosive device allegedly planted on a bicycle exploded outside the Krishnai police station.

The injured have been taken to hospital where they are being treated.

Shiv Sena MPs Accused of Forcing Muslim Staff to Eat In Maharashtra Sadan Row

Parliamentarians of the Shiv Sena allegedly forced a Muslim catering supervisor, who was fasting for Ramzan, to eat a chapati during a row over food at the Maharashtra Sadan last week.

The Sena leaders have been accused of misbehaving with the staff for not serving them Maharashtrian food.

The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Company or IRCTC has reportedly stopped catering for the state guest house in protest, alleging that their resident manager, Arshad, was forced to eat a chapatti.

Close Shave for Rajdhani Train After Maoists Blow up Track in Bihar

Gaya:  A major disaster was averted after a pilot engine detected a damaged railway track near Gaya in Bihar just hours before a Rajdhani train was to pass though that area. Maoists had allegedly blown up the track last night.

The incident happened around 11 pm last night when the driver of the engine alerted authorities about the track between Islampur and Rafiganj. It was running ahead of the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani as also a Rajdhani that was headed from New Delhi to Bhubanewswar.

Israel strikes kill dozens as Gaza death toll soars

GAZA CITY: Israeli strikes killed at least 13 women and children in Gaza on Tuesday, medics said, as the army announced the deaths of two more soldiers in the two-week conflict.

The fatalities, which were among nearly 40 on Tuesday alone, brought the total death toll to more than 600 Palestinians, according to Gaza´s emergency services, and 29 Israelis -- 27 soldiers and two civilians.

A child and three women, one of them pregnant, were killed in two separate Israeli air strikes in Zeitun, in the central Gaza Strip, and Beit Hanun, in the north, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Gaza bloodbath: Five children die; toll 572

GAZA CITY: The death toll in Gaza rose to 572 on Monday. And the Israeli army said another seven soldiers had been killed in fighting in Gaza, raising the overall Israeli death toll to 27, all but two of them soldiers.

Six top Al Qaeda leaders killed in US Drone strikes

BANNU: At least six Al Qaeda commanders were killed during the recent US drone attack in Dattakhel area of North Waziristan tribal region, Al Qaeda leadership confirmed, ACCORDING to a report PUBLISHED in The News.

The head of the Al-Qaeda victory Committee, Sanafi al-Nasr, who is based in Syria, confirmed via a SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE that six of his members belonging to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group were killed in the July 10 drone attack.

Three foreign advisers killed in suicide bombing near Kabul airport

KABUL: A Taliban suicide bomber detonated himself on Tuesday outside Kabul International airport, killing three foreign advisers and an Afghan interpreter, police said.

The nationalities of the foreign advisers were not immediately clear.

The explosion comes days after one of the most audacious militant attacks in a year on the airport, which is used by both civilians and the military.

Five Kuwait politicians' citizenship revoked

Kuwait has stripped five well-known opposition figures of their citizenship, including the owner of a newspaper and television station.

The official Kuwait News Agency announced the decision by Kuwait's cabinet on Monday, which approved a draft decree to revoke the citizenship of the five.

Among those named in the decision is Abdullah al-Barghash, a former Islamist opposition legislator, and three other members of his family.

Youm-e-Ali (RA) being observed across the country today

KARACHI: The country is observing Youm-e-Ali (RA), the martyrdom day of Hazrat Ali (RA), as law enforcement agencies have made strict security arrangements to avert any untoward situation in any part of the country, Geo News reported.

The mourning processions following the planned routes and finally gather at the pre-decided venues. Strict security is being observed throughout the processions routes while the district administrations have also installed CCTV cameras.

Ninety pc of slain Muslims killed by 'brothers': Turkey's religious head

ISTANBUL: One thousand Muslims are being killed each day and 90 percent of the killers are also Muslims, head of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has said.

"They are being killed by their brothers, not only in Syria and Iraq, but also in Libya, Pakistan, Africa and Myanmar," Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez said in his address to the participants of "World Islamic Scholars, Peace, Moderation and Commonsense Initiative" conference in Istanbul on July 19.

Görmez cited "some studies" without specifying the exact source for the figures he quoted.

Unending campaign: Drone strike kills 11 suspected militants in North Waziristan

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone strike targeting a compound early on Saturday morning killed eleven suspected militants in Madakhel Tehsil in Data Khel, North Waziristan.“The drone fired eight missiles on the compound at around 2:00am (2100 GMT) on Saturday killing eleven members of the Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taliban,” a senior security official in the region told AFP.

Fatemi to leave for US today on official visit

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi is scheduled to travel to the United States on an official visit from the 21st to the 28th of this month.

"Mr Fatemi is scheduled to hold meetings with senior officials in the State Department, Defence Department and the White House to exchange views on bilateral relations," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told Dawn.

Kuwait tells Hamas it backs Egypt's ceasefire proposal

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah on Sunday told a visiting Hamas delegation that his country supports an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire between Palestinian factions and Israel in the Gaza Strip.

During a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who arrived in Kuwait earlier in the day, Sheikh Sabah condemned Israeli "aggression and crimes" against the Gaza Strip and reaffirmed support for the Palestinians.

Turkey, US in row over Erdogan’s remarks on Israel

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strong-worded criticism against Israel and the United States over the former’s military operations in Gaza has transformed into a diplomatic spat between Ankara and Washington, with Erdogan calling for the U.S. to be “self-critical” over its Israel policy.

“If America is still saying that ‘Israel is using its right to self-defense’ then it should be critical of itself. It’s America who is offensive,” Erdogan told TGRT on July 20 in an interview.

Netanyahu slams Erdogan’s words on Israel’s Gaza offensive as ‘anti-Semitic’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned as “anti-Semitic” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s criticism of the latest military operation in Gaza, Israeli newspaper Hareetz reported on July 20.

Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone conversation that Erdogan’s recent remarks, accusing Israel of massacring Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and carrying out war crimes “worse than Hitler” were anti-Semitic, adding that they “desecrated the memory of the Holocaust.”

Afghanistan clashes leave 30 dead

At least 30 Taliban fighters have been killed, and 15 others wounded in various regions of Afghanistan, the country's Defense Ministry said Monday.

According to the ministry, security forces in the eastern Khost province carried out operations against the Taliban that left 23 fighters dead and 12 wounded.

Another seven Taliban fighters were killed and three others wounded in the southern province of Helmand.

UN Security Council opens urgent talks on Gaza

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council opened urgent talks on the escalating violence in Gaza to consider ways of stepping up ceasefire efforts.

The 15-member Council met as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was holding talks with leaders in the region amid a spike in violence that left more than 100 Palestinians dead in a single day.

“We have to know from the secretary-general the result of his efforts, his travels and whether there is any hope of moving forward to a ceasefire,” said French Ambassador Gerard Araud as he headed into the meeting.

Missile brought from Russia downed Malaysian airliner, alleges US

HRABOVE: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that the evidence indicates that a Russian missile was used to down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, while Britain said Moscow faced “pariah” status and the threat of further economic sanctions.

Battle for Libya airport leaves at least 47 dead

Islamist-led militiamen have stepped up their assault on Libya's main airport, controlled by rival fighters, which the health ministry said on Monday had left at least 47 dead in a week.

The fighting, which erupted on July 13 and shut Tripoli international airport, also injured 120 people, according to figures for the week until Saturday.