World news

Muslims must do more to repel Isil, says Cameron

David Cameron has warned parts of the Muslim community that “quietly condoning” anti-Western ideology is making it easier for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) to recruit in British cities. The Prime Minister issued a stark message to Muslim families and leaders that they must

Scandinavian Muslims to fast for 22 hours

Fatih Mehmet Karaca, the counselor of social and religious affairs in Stockholm, announced that in accordance with the Ramadan timetable prepared by Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB), the fasting period during the upcoming month of Ramadan in Sweden's northernmost cities of Kiruna and N

Pakistan army chief vows to make nation "terror free"

JAWARO (Khyber Agency, Pakistan): Chief of Army staff general Raheel Sharif has vowed to apprehend all terrorists, their facilitators and financiers in order to achieve the objective of a 'terror-free' Pakistan. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), general Sharif, who returned

White man guns down 9 at black church in US

WASHINGTON: A young white gunman opened fire in a historically black church in South Carolina on Wednesday night killing nine African-Americans in what was said to be hate crime, one of the worst in US history. The gunman, still at large at the time of writing, reportedly spared one woman so that sh

Charleston church shooting: Nine die in South Carolina 'hate crime'

Nine people have been shot dead at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a hunt is under way for a white gunman. Police described the attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church as a "hate crime". They issued surveillance images of the suspect and s

N. Korea hit by worst drought in 100 years

SEOUL: North Korea says it has been hit by its worst drought in a century, resulting in extensive damage to agriculture. The official Korean Central News Agency said the drought has caused about 30 percent of its rice paddies to dry up. Rice plants normally need to be partially submerged in water d

250,000 children starving in South Sudan: UN

JUBA: A quarter of a million children face starvation in war-torn South Sudan, with an end to the 18-month conflict as distant as ever, the expelled UN aid chief warned Tuesday. “Six months ago, we thought that violence and suffering had peaked and that peace was on the horizon. We were wrong,” sai

Top Jamaat leader's death sentence upheld by Bangladesh SC

 Bangladesh's Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence against the second highest ranking leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami for war crimes, including massacre of intelligentsia whom he termed "agents of India", during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. Chief Justice Surendr

UK fasting ban on students criticized

LONDON: Several primary schools in London are forbidding students from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, because of concerns for the children’s health. The Barclay School and three other Lion Academy Trust schools sent a letter to parents saying Ramadan comes at the hottest time of the ye

China to drop entry permit requirement for Taiwan residents

BEIJING: China plans to drop the entry permit requirement for Taiwan residents visiting the mainland, the official Xinhua news agency cited a senior Chinese politician as saying on Sunday. Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of China's National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Confere

Zimbabwe's new exchange rate: $1 for 35,000,000,000,000,000 local dollars

HARARE: Zimbabweans will start exchanging 'quadrillions' of local dollars for a few US dollars next week, as President Robert Mugabe's government discards its virtually worthless national currency, the central bank said on Thursday. The southern African country started using foreign currencies li

Pentagon: Price tag for war on Islamic State is $2.7 billion

WASHINGTON: The US has spent more than $2.7 billion on the war against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since bombings began last August, and the average daily cost is now more than $9 million, the Pentagon said Thursday. Releasing a detailed breakdown of the costs for the first time, th

United Nations keeps Israel off ‘list of shame’

The United Nations on Monday released a "list of shame" of children's rights violators and did not include Israel, despite an outcry over the death of more than 500 children during the Gaza war last year. Rights groups had called on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to add Israel to the list, and the

Reporters evacuated from White House after bomb threat

WASHINGTON: White House reporters were evacuated from the media briefing room in the middle of press conference by the presidential spokesperson Josh Earnest, after law enforcement agencies received a bomb threat call. The reporters who were escorted to the nearby Eisenhower Executive Building on

Distrust between South Korea, Japan sky high: Poll

TOKYO: Distrust between South Korea and Japan is sky high, a new poll showed on Tuesday, as ties between two of Washington's key Asian allies continue to deteriorate over historical grievances. A record-high 73 per cent of Japanese say their neighbour is untrustworthy, while 85 per cent of South

US manhunt for New York jail break killers

NEW YORK: A frantic manhunt was on Sunday for two convicted murderers who busted out of New York State’s biggest maximum security prison by cutting through cell walls with power tools and escaping along tunnels. Killers Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, sneaked out of the all-male Clinton Corr

South Korea reports 5th death from MERS, 14 new cases

SEOUL: South Korea on Sunday reported its fifth death from MERS as the government vowed "all-out" measures to ease growing public fear over the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia. The number of infections rose to 64 after 14 new cases, including one death, of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (

Data hacked from US government dates back to 1985: Official

WASHINGTON: Data stolen from US government computers by suspected Chinese hackers included security clearance information and background checks dating back three decades, US officials said on Friday, underlining the scope of one of the largest known cyber attacks on federal networks. The brea