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.

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.

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.

Diplomatic drive intensifies as Gaza death toll reaches to 350

GAZA: Fresh Israeli bombardments killed five people in Gaza Sunday, hiking the death toll from the assault to over 350.Israel pressed its air, sea and ground offensive against the besieged coastal territory.Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Qatar to discuss an Egyptian-proposed truce on Sunday, and the movement said it had received an invitation to Cairo for ceasefire talks.

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.

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.

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.

Islamic State's Saudi ‘mufti’ slain in Iraq

A Saudi mufti with the Islamic State (IS or Daesh) has been killed in Iraq by the country’s armed forces, says an Iraqi news site, quoting an Iraqi military commander.

“Daesh mufti Abu Osama Al-Qahtani was killed inside a building in Baiji, Tikrit, along with four of his assistants in an air raid that targeted an IS meeting on Tuesday,” Lt. Gen. Ali Al-Freiji, commander in Saladin province, was quoted by Waradana as saying.

Five killed during operation in Karachi's Landhi area

KARACHI: Five suspected militants were killed during an operation in Gulshan-i-Buner area of Karachi's Landhi area.

Security sources said that a police team conducted the raid after receiving a tip-off regarding the presence of hardened criminals in the vicinity.

The police team was fired upon once they entered the area.

At least five 'terrorists' were killed in retaliatory firing by security personnel, while police also claimed to have recovered a weapon factory, in addition to a large quantity of arms and ammunition.

Egypt proposes ceasefire in -IsraeliPalestinian conflict

Egypt has proposed a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza that would start on Tuesday, ending a week of cross-border warfare, and be followed by talks to prevent further hostilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to convene his decision-making security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the proposed truce, an Israeli official said.

The official appeared to put a positive spin on the Egyptian initiative, saying Hamas had been weakened military by Israeli air and sea bombardments.

Jihadists execute four Syrian ‘spies’ in Iraq

Jihadist militants publicly executed four Syrian men in a western Iraqi town for allegedly spying for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, witnesses and a doctor said on Monday.

Militants flying the flag of the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group brought the men to a main street in al-Qaim, near Iraq’s border with Syria, in a convoy of trucks on Sunday, witnesses said.

One militant then announced that they were spies for Assad’s regime, which the IS is fighting in Syria, and the men, their hands bound, were shot dead one by one.

Iraq forces advance into militant-held Tikrit: officials

KIRKUK: Iraqi security forces advanced into militant-held Tikrit on Tuesday in an assault aimed at revitalising flagging efforts to retake the city, officials said.

Security forces began the attack in morning and have succeeded in retaking government facilities in the city's south.

At least 18 suspected militants killed in North Waziristan drone attack

PESHAWAR: At least 18 suspected militants were killed Wednesday in a US drone attack in North Waziristan tribal region's Dattakhel area.

Intelligence sources said that the drone fired missiles on a compound in Saidgai area of Dattakhel as a result of which the compound was completely destroyed whereas 18 suspected militants were killed.

Syrian troops advance in key city of Aleppo

Syrian troops have advanced inside and near northern Aleppo in what appears to be an attempt to lay siege to rebel-held parts of the country's largest city, activist say.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Monday that reinforcements, including members of Iran's elite Republican Guards and allies from Lebanon's Hezbollah group, had recently arrived in Aleppo.

Israel's Largest Offensive in Gaza Strip in 2 Years Kills 25

JERUSALEM - Israel on Tuesday launched its largest offensive in the Gaza Strip in nearly two years, carrying out a blistering aerial assault on scores of targets and killing 25 people in what officials called an open-ended operation aimed at ending weeks of heavy rocket fire. As Gazamilitants unleashed salvos on cities including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel mobilized forces along the border for a possible ground invasion.