World news

Gazans flee for cover as Israel, Hamas resume fighting

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Several thousand Palestinians fled their homes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, weighed down with bags of clothes, pillows and mattresses after Israel and Palestinian militants resumed fire, witnesses said. An AFP reporter saw hundreds of Palestinians streaming out

Showdown: Pakistan deploys army to thwart protesters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sent troops to boost security in Islamabad’s government district after opposition politician Imran Khan pledged to lead protesters on Parliament in a high-stakes bid to depose Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Tens of thousands of protesters used a crane and bolt cutters to force

WHO urges exit screening for Ebola at some airports

GENEVA: The UN health agency is urging Ebola-affected countries to start screening all passengers leaving international airports, sea ports and major ground crossings. The World Health Organization says the risk of the Ebola virus being transmitted during air travel is low but anyone with an illnes

Fate of Gaza truce uncertain as death toll exceeds 2,000

GAZA CITY: The Gaza death toll rose over 2,000 Monday as the clock ticked toward a midnight deadline and negotiators in Cairo strove to hammer out a decisive end to weeks of bloodshed. As millions in and around Gaza enjoyed an eighth day of calm brought on by two back-to-back truce agreements, te

Australians denounce Israeli genocide

SYDNEY: Thousands of Australians rallied behind the Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, condemning the brutal Israeli aggression on the occupied territory, killing about 2,000 Palestinians, including women and children. Speakers urged the international community to free Gaza from the Israeli blockade

Imran Khan calls for ‘civil disobedience’ movement in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Imran Khan has called on thousands of protesters rallying in Islamabad to launch a civil disobedience movement against the government, as a leading religious scholar said that only a “revolution” would bring about change. “There is only one way to get rid of this government,

Occupation must end, says Palestinian PM

Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Rami Hamdallah is a technocrat, leading a government of nonpartisan technocrats. He enjoys the confidence of President Mahmoud Abbas and all Palestinian factions. With Gaza in ruins following the devastating Israeli attacks, all eyes are on him for reconstruction and f

Nigeria trains 800 volunteers to fight Ebola

LAGOS: Nigeria has trained 800 volunteers to help fight the deadly Ebola epidemic that has already claimed four lives in Africa’s most populous country, a regional governor spokesman said Saturday. Authorities in the country’s largest city of Lagos last week appealed for volunteers to make up for

Storm, heavy rains leave 16 dead in Peshawar

PESHAWAR – At least 16 people have been killed and more than 80 others injured in rain-related incidents and hailstorms in various parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's capital city as roofs and walls of building collapsed due to heavy rain.   Speaking to journalists at the Lady Reading Hospi

Mob attacks convoy of Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Supporters of the Pakistani government and opposition protesters clashed during the second day of a march to Islamabad aimed at forcing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign. The clashes raised tensions ahead of the protesters’ arrival in Islamabad, which has been on a virtual lockdown

Thousands march to oust Pakistani PM

KARACHI: Tens of thousands of Pakistanis joined opposition leader Imran Khan Thursday as he traveled from Lahore to the capital to oust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over fraud allegations in an election 15 months ago. Khan’s supporters waved red-and-green party flags and danced to music in open tr

Renewed Gaza truce holds

JERUSALEM: Israel and Palestinians in Gaza were holding their fire Thursday after a new truce got off to a shaky start with overnight Palestinian rocket fire followed by Israeli airstrikes. Late on Wednesday, negotiators in Cairo brokered an 11th-hour extension to an existing truce, with the warrin

Journalist among 5 killed as Gaza experts dismantle missile: medics

GAZA CITY: A foreign journalist was among five people killed in northern Gaza as Palestinian experts were dismantling an Israeli missile, medics and officials said. Emergency services spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said five people had been killed and several more seriously wounded. “A number of ex

Prince Saud: Israel has no right to self-defense

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has said that the actions of the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, cannot be equated with Israel’s mass killings. Addressing a press conference after chairing an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on Tues

Temporary Gaza truce continues

CAIRO: A temporary Israel-Hamas truce held for a second day Tuesday as marathon, indirect negotiations on a lasting cease-fire and a long-term solution for the battered Gaza Strip resumed in Cairo. A similar, three-day truce collapsed on Friday when Hamas resumed rocket fire on Israel after the s

UN names 3 experts to probe Gaza war crimes

GENEVA: The UN has named three experts to an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes committed by both sides during Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, will head the panel whose o

8 Palestinians killed ahead of Gaza truce

DOHA: A lasting truce must lead to the lifting by Israel of its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told AFP in Doha. The 72-hour cease-fire Hamas reached with Israel on Sunday “is one of the ways or tactics to ensure successful negotiations or to facilitate the delivery of human

IS fighters repairing Mosul dam as Kurds gear up for defense

BAGHDAD: Islamic State insurgents who seized Iraq’s biggest dam in an offensive that has caused international consternation have brought in engineers for repairs, witnesses said on Saturday, as nervous Kurds stocked up on arms to defend their enclave nearby. The fighters have captured wide swathe