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KARACHI: Undoubtedly, Dilbar girl Nora Fatehi set the internet on fire with her  unmatched dancing skills that will  surely   freeze the eye balls of the  onlookers for a while.The dancing girl  shared a heartwarming video on her Instagram page in which she can be seen practicing with fire-hoops for O Saki Saki , raising the heartbeats of her  millions of fans with   blasting performance.The actress  sent her fans into a frenzy with her belly dance moves that no one else but only Nora could have aced with perfection. Sharing the amazing video on social network, Nora  Fatehi also penned her great experience that left many spellbound, she wrote: "Experience literally a day before the shoot of #OSakiSaki .. i had only about 2 days to learn how to do Fire dancing.. as u can see from this video i had fear written all over my face as i was doing this for the first time! My heart was racing and i was sweating like a pig! But in v...

BELFAST: Boris Johnson was warned not be the DUP’s gopher as he faced claims of bias on his first visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister.Johnson was accused of undermining the government’s stated impartiality in the region after holding a private dinner with senior DUP figures on the eve of his first substantive intervention in the powersharing impasse at Stormont.The Conservative leader, who relies on the support of the DUP’s 10 MPS for a Commons majority, met with all the main Stormont parties in Belfast on Wednesday to discuss a governance crisis that has left the region shorn of a devolved executive for two and half years. Brexit was also high on the agenda during his bilateral engagements with the main parties.Some of the politicians used the encounters to raise concerns about his government’s confidence and supply deal with the DUP, accusing him of compromising his obligation to act impartially in the region.Johnson denied a conflict of interest as he was asked on Wednesday ...

LONDON: Flood warnings and alerts remain in place across parts of the UK after heavy storms wreaked havoc on homes, business and roads.The Met Office issued an all day yellow warning of heavy rain and thunderstorms on Wednesday, covering a large swathe of England northwards from Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln. In Gringley on the Hill in Nottinghamshire, 11.6 mm of rain fell in the hour up until 2pm on Wednesday, the Met Office said. At High Mowthorpe in North Yorkshire, a total of 40.2mm fell in the 12 hours up until 2pm. The army was drafted to help with damage after storms left scores of homes and businesses flooded and roads and bridges washed away. Soldiers from 2 Yorks arrived in Grinton, North Yorkshire, after parts of the region had up to 82.2mm of rain in 24 hours on Tuesday.One 75-year-old woman described how she almost drowned when her pub, the Red Lion Inn, in Langthwaite, Richmond, North Yorkshire was filled by 5ft high water on Tuesday night. Rowena Hutchinson told PA o...

JERUSALEM: Israel has given rare approval to Palestinian homes in the part of the occupied West Bank it fully controls while also backing a large settlement expansion before a visit by the White House’s Jared Kushner.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, confirmed the approval by the country’s security cabinet the previous day with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser expected to visit this week.The approval is for 700 Palestinian homes and 6,000 for Israeli settlers.It was not immediately clear if all of the homes will be new construction or if some already exist and are receiving retroactive approval.The plan for Palestinians, though relatively small and far outweighed by the number of settlement homes, could allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to argue he is making efforts in favour of Kushner’s long-awaited peace plan.Details on Kushner’s visit as part of a Middle East tour were not yet made available. He has said his plan wi...

SEOUL: North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, less than a week after Pyongyang’s first weapons tests in more than two months.Observers say the launches were aimed at ramping up pressure on the United States to make concessions as the two countries are struggling to resume diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the missiles were launched from the town of Wonsan, a regular launch site on the North’s eastern coast. It said both missiles were believed to have flown about 250km (155 miles) at a maximum altitude of 30km (19 miles) and that South Korean and US militaries were trying to find more details of the launches.“The North’s repeated missile launches are not helpful to an effort to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and we urge (North Korea) to stop this kind of behaviour,” the statement said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe briefly told reporte...

LONDON: The Duke of Sussex has warned about the threat of “unconscious bias” — where someone may make racist comments but not realise they are prejudiced.Harry also said a person’s “perspective” on others was learned from “family”, the “older generation” and even “advertising”, during an interview with leading primatologist Dr Jane Goodall.The royal’s comments will have importance as he is married to mixed-race wife Meghan and has a baby son Archie, now three months old, who shares the heritage of his parents.During his interview of Dr Goodall, commissioned by British Vogue which is being guest edited by Meghan, Harry revealed he will only have two children to help safeguard the planet.Dr Goodall, famed for her life-long study of chimpanzees, was asked by Harry how what she had learned about the primates had “impacted” on how she felt about people.She replied it was “obvious” mankind had “inherited aggressive tendencies”, but human brains were able to control anger. The duke said: “It’...

LONDON: A trial date has been set for a 46-year-old man accused of the attempted theft of a “priceless” 800-year-old version of the Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral.Mark Royden, from Canterbury, Kent, is accused of using a hammer to smash the protective glass box surrounding the ancient manuscript on October 25 last year. He is alleged to have been stopped by members of staff and a tourist before being arrested by police.The defendant, who represented himself at Winchester Crown Court, is charged with stealing “an original version of the Magna Carta, the value of which is priceless, belonging to Salisbury Cathedral”. He also faces a second charge of criminal damage to the cabinet holding the Magna Carta worth £14,466.Royden, wearing shorts and a long-sleeved top with the word “Eleven” on the front and the letter ‘M’ on the back with Union Jacks on the sleeves all in bright yellow, pleaded not guilty to the two charges.Judge Susan Evans QC adjourned the case for trial to be held at Sa...

BERLIN: Germany is “reluctant” to join a proposed US-led maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz but would consider taking part in a European mission, the government said on Wednesday.Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government was responding to a US demand made public a day earlier “to help secure” the world’s busiest oil shipping lane and “combat Iranian aggression”. At a time of heightened tensions, Berlin fears that this could potentially draw it and other powers into a military confrontation between the United States and the Islamic Republic.Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Germany continued to support diplomatic efforts to ease tensions that have risen sharply since US President Donald Trump last year withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.“The USA recently presented their concept for a Persian Gulf maritime surveillance mission to several allies including Germany and asked for contributions,” said Demmer. “The German government is reluctant about the concrete US pr...

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Israel has given a rare approval to Palestinian homes in the part of the occupied West Bank it fully controls while also backing a large settlement expansion before a visit by the White House’s Jared Kushner.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, confirmed the approval by the country’s security cabinet the previous day with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser expected to visit this week.The approval is for 700 Palestinian homes and 6,000 for Israeli settlers. It was not immediately clear if all of the homes will be new construction or if some already exist and are receiving retroactive approval.The plan for Palestinians, though relatively small and far outweighed by the number of settlement homes, could allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to argue he is making efforts in favour of Kushner’s long-awaited peace plan. Details on Kushner’s visit as part of a Middle East tour were not yet made available.He has said h...

HONG KONG: Dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters appeared in court on Wednesday after being charged with rioting, setting the stage for further unrest in a weeks-long crisis that has rocked the global financial hub.The announcement on Tuesday night that 44 people had been charged with rioting -- an offence that carries a jail term of up to 10 years -- immediately triggered another round of clashes between police and protesters.Supporters continued to voice their outrage as they stood for hours on Wednesday outside court, braving heavy winds and rain, as the accused rioters appeared before a judge. “Release the righteous... no rioters, only tyranny... reclaim Hong Kong, the revolution of our times,” the supporters chanted.The protesters were generally calm as they took turns to appear in front of the judge, who formally read the charges and granted them bail. The range of their professions reflected the wide support across Hong Kong society for the pro-democracy movement.They inc...

NICOSIA: An unprecedented legal battle between Jordan’s Princess Haya and her husband the Dubai ruler may sour ties for two powerful royal families, but is unlikely to affect strategic and economic relations between their countries, analysts say.Princess Haya, 45, the half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah II and a member of the country’s ruling Hashemite family, has fled to London where she has brought a case against her husband, whom she married in 2004.After reportedly leaving the UAE some time ago, Haya applied for a British forced marriage protection order, as well as wardship of their children, and a non-molestation order relating to herself.Her husband, 70-year-old Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, has in turn applied to have the children returned to Dubai. No mention of the case was made in the Emirati media on Wednesday where criticism of the royal family is rare, but there were acerbic comments on social media.Well-known Emi...

NEW DELHI: A teenage rape case that has rocked India will be examined by the country’s top court, the chief justice said on Wednesday, days after the alleged victim was critically hurt in a suspicious car crash.The 19-year-old is fighting for her life in hospital after the car she was in was smashed by a truck on Sunday, killing two of her aunts and severely injuring her lawyer.It was the latest tragedy to befall her family since she accused lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of raping her at his home in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh state in 2017. In the latest twist to the case, the girl’s family wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India two weeks ago alleging threats against their lives.But Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the first time he had heard about the letter was via the media, as he called for it to be handed to him. “The letter has not been placed before me and newspapers flashed yesterday that the CJI (Chief Justice of India) di...

LYON: Several people have been robbed in central France after being poisoned by cigarettes that they were handed on the street, the local prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.The six victims, all young people, had smoked between two and four roll-up cigarettes offered by people they met on the street in the past few days in the central French town of Roanne.Several were robbed of their smartphones and other personal items. Investigators said the tobacco appeared to have been sprayed with a noxious substance that left the smokers delirious, lethargic or in a comatose state.One of the victims was so disturbed he swallowed gravel and another reacted aggressively when the emergency services tried to help him. Some were treated in hospital for their symptoms.The public prosecutor for Roanne, Abdelkrim Grini, said while previous such attacks have been reported on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, these were the first known cases on the mainland. from The News International - Worl...

MOSCOW: Doctors at a Russian state facility on Wednesday said they had found no traces of poison in jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was hospitalised at the weekend with suspicious symptoms.Navalny’s personal physician said Monday his condition suggested “poisoning by some unknown chemical substance” after he was rushed to a hospital from jail, where he is being held over an unauthorised protest.However Alexei Tokarev, head of the state Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Care, which has a toxicology lab, said the lab ran Navalny’s samples and “poisoning substances were not found,” according to Russian news agencies. Navalny was sent back to his jail cell Monday despite the protests of his doctor, who said he could be at risk of coming into contact with a poison again there. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2ZmrBid

RIO DE JANEIRO: Four inmates involved in one of Brazil’s deadliest prison riots suffocated while being transferred to another jail, officials said on Wednesday, taking to 62 the number killed over two days.The men were among 46 prisoners removed from the Altamira Regional Recovery Centre in the northern state of Para on Tuesday, a day after clashes between rival drug factions left 58 dead, according to the latest death toll.Sixteen inmates were decapitated in Monday’s hours-long battle, but most died in a fire that engulfed part of the overcrowded facility that used converted shipping containers to house some of the inmates.On Tuesday, 30 prisoners were handcuffed and put in four cells on a bus that was to take them to jails in the capital Belem, the state secretary for public security and social defense said in a statement.Guards found the bodies of the four inmates, who belonged to the same gang, in two cells during a stop in Maraba city. They had suffocated.“The reasons for this unf...

AL-OBEID, Sudan: Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of a central Sudanese city on Wednesday, denouncing the killing of six demonstrators there including schoolchildren at a rally this week.“Blood for blood, we don’t want compensation,” chanted men and women as they marched in Al-Obeid where the killings took place on Monday. Many carried Sudanese flags and some held photographs of those killed as they gathered in the downtown area, after marching through several parts of the city, an AFP correspondent reported.“It is unacceptable that young people are being killed,” said protester Fatima Mohamed as behind her crowds chanted revolutionary slogans that have rocked the country for months. “These schoolchildren were chanting only slogans. Why were they shot with bullets?” “Those who committed these crimes must be brought to justice,” she said. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2Zn7CjG

BANGALORE, India: The body of billionaire Indian coffee magnate V.G. Siddhartha was found by a river in southern India on Wednesday, a day after a letter revealed his concerns over deep financial problems and perceived harassment from tax authorities.The discovery by fishermen ended a two-day search for the founder of the Cafe Coffee Day empire, after he was last seen by his driver walking across a bridge in the city of Mangalaru. Politicians and business figures called immediately for a probe into Siddhartha’s death, as well as the allegations in his letter of harassment from lenders and tax authorities.“The government should hold a proper investigation into his tragic death,” former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda said on Twitter as he expressed “shock”. A call for an independent inquiry was raised in parliament by opposition Congress MP Manish Tewari.Siddhartha -- whose family had been in the coffee business for 130 years -- opened his first Cafe Coffee Day store in 1996 and went on ...

WASHINGTON: US rapper Cardi B cancelled a concert in Indianapolis on Tuesday evening due to concerns over a “security threat,” she said on social media.Indianapolis police confirmed the cancellation, citing an “unverified threat to the artist.” “There is no immediate threat to public safety, this (is) not an active incident. Ongoing investigation,” the department said on its official Twitter account.The 26-year-old rapper posted a video on Twitter and Instagram of what appeared to be rehearsals at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse earlier in the day. “Dear Indiana people I’m so sorry for today,” she posted on Twitter. “Unfortunately there was a security threat that is currently under investigation right now. My safety and your safety first.”On Instagram she said, “Im so sorry guys I never dealt with a situation like this before and I’m not taking any chances.I love you guys,” followed by two heart emojis.The superstar, who has a one-year-old daughter with her husband, the rapper Offset, also...

TUNIS: Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed will stand in the country’s upcoming presidential election, his party announced on Wednesday, days after the death of incumbent Beji Caid Essebsi.“Chahed is the candidate of the Tahia Tounes party” for the September 15 election, spokesman Ali Baccar said. The prime minister will discuss his candidature “after the end of the (seven-day) mourning period” for Essebsi, who died last week aged 92.Originally scheduled for November, the vote was brought forward following Essebsi’s death on July 25. Presidential hopefuls must formally submit their candidacy between August 2 and August 9. Launched at the start of the year, Chahed’s Tahia Tounes has become the second largest party in parliament, behind Islamist-inspired Ennahdha. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2GB9Fcj

LOS ANGELES: YouTube star Grant Thompson, who rose to fame as host of the popular channel "The King of Random," has died in a paragliding accident, his family announced.Authorities said the 38-year-old, who had 11 million subscribers on his channel and billions of views, was reported missing after he didn’t return on Monday from a paragliding trip in Utah.A GPS device that he had on him was used to locate his body late Tuesday.The Washington County Sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post that rescuers had recovered paragliding equipment as well as a video recording device that may help shed some light on the crash.Thompson’s family informed fans of his death on his social media pages."It is with great sadness to inform everyone that Grant Thompson passed away last night," the family said on Instagram. "Please do a random act of love or kindness today in honor of The King of Random.""Grant’s legacy will live on in the channel and the global community ...

WASHINGTON: US intelligence has received information that Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden´s son Hamza has died, NBC News reported Wednesday.NBC said three US officials had confirmed they had information of Hamza bin Laden´s death, but gave no details of the date or place, and did not indicate if they had confirmed the information.Questioned by reporters in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump did not confirm or deny the report."I don´t want to comment on it," he said.In February the US government put a $1 million bounty on Bin Laden´s head. Hamza bin Laden´s whereabouts have never been pinpointed. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2MtAWBn

RIO DE JANEIRO: At least 57 inmates were killed during a prison riot in northern Brazil late on Tuesday as rival gang factions fought each other, an official said.Sixteen of the dead were decapitated in the second major eruption of violence to rock the country´s severely overpopulated and deadly prison system in as many months. Fighting broke out in the Altamira Regional Recovery Center at around 7:00 am (1000 GMT), an official from the Para state government´s penitentiary department told AFP.Two guards were taken hostage during the hours-long clashes, which were brought under control at around midday. The guards were eventually freed. Brazilian TV stations showed footage of thick black smoke rising from the prison compound and people sitting on the roof of a building.Other images showed flames inside a building that almost reached the ceiling and people, apparently prisoners, sitting on the ground outside."It is likely that many detainees died from asphyxiation (from smoke),...

An exhibition of cartoons has opened in Tehran portraying Britain´s Queen Elizabeth II as a pirate, seen wielding a cutlass and sporting the skull-and-crossbones, after the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker.Historically strained ties between Tehran and London have worsened since British Royal Marines took part in the seizure of Iran´s "Grace 1" oil tanker off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on July 4.That was followed by Iran´s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seizing a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on July 19 -- in what London called a "tit-for-tat" move. Forty cartoons have now gone on display in the "Pirates of the Queen" exhibition at the Osveh Art and Cultural Centre in Tehran to throw the spotlight on the seizure of "Grace 1", which was denounced by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as "piracy" by the "vicious British".One cartoon shows the queen dressed as a burglar in a black beanie and...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka´s Muslim ministers who resigned en masse in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday bombings have rejoined the government, officials said on Tuesday, after police cleared them of any involvement with Islamists.Nearly 100 people linked to a local jihadist group were arrested after the April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels that killed 258 people.Nine government legislators, several of them cabinet ministers, resigned in early June after a Buddhist lawmaker demanded their sacking and accused them of terror links. "The ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers who resigned recently were sworn in before the president last night," a statement from the president´s office said.A spokesman for the lawmakers said they decided to accept their old portfolios after police cleared them of any links with Islamists involved with the bombings. Muslim leaders had said their community -- which makes up 10 percent of Sri Lanka´s 21 million population --...

BEIJING: A serial killer who murdered six people and raped 10 women and two girls, including a 12-year-old, was executed on Tuesday, according to the country´s top court.Zhao Zhihong, 47, known as the "smiling killer", was sentenced to death in Inner Mongolia in 2015 for crimes committed in the northern region between 1996 and 2005. He strangled most of his victims with his hands but killed one with telephone wire and slashed another. "The nature of his crimes was particularly gruesome," said the Supreme People´s Court, which has the final word on executions.Chinese journalists who met Zhao dubbed him the "smiling killer" because of his seemingly unflappable demeanour. Zhao was arrested in 2005 and confessed to a string of crimes, including the 1996 rape and choking to death of a woman in the toilet of a textile factory in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia´s capital.An 18-year-old named Hugjiltu had already been tried, convicted, sentenced and executed for that murde...

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: An Eritrean man accused of killing an eight-year-old boy by pushing him under a train is a Swiss-based father-of-three who will be examined for a psychiatric disorder, authorities said on Tuesday.German prosecutors laid murder and attempted murder charges against the 40-year-old, who had on Tuesday also pushed the boy´s mother onto the tracks at Frankfurt´s main station, and tried but failed to do the same to a 78-year-old woman.The mother, also 40, was able to roll off the tracks at the last moment to avoid the arriving ICE train that killed her son. The man, who was arrested shortly after, did not previously know the victims and showed no signs of alcohol or drug use, said Frankfurt public prosecutors spokeswoman Nadja Niesen."The crime suggests a psychiatric disorder," she told a press conference. "In the course of the subsequent investigation, the accused will certainly be psychiatrically examined, to allow an assessment of his criminal culpability...

BANGALORE, India: Indian police on Tuesday launched a major hunt for coffee tycoon V.G. Siddhartha, amid mounting fears for the billionaire who admitted in a letter before disappearing that he had "failed as an entrepreneur".The founder of the Cafe Coffee Day chain that beat Starbucks at its own game in India was last seen Monday night walking across a bridge in the southern state of Karnataka.His chauffeur alerted police when Siddhartha did not return. Police divers, backed by local fishermen, searched the Nethravathi river near Mangalaru while senior Karnataka politicians flocked to the tycoon´s home.Shares in the coffee chain fell 20 percent as worries over the company grew and its board held an emergency meeting. Coffee Day Enterprises said directors had discussed a letter to the board purportedly signed by the 57-year-old chairman in which he admitted mistakes handling his affairs. "I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me," said th...

SINGAPORE: Singapore police are investigating an "offensive" rap video made in response to a controversial advertisement in which a Chinese actor´s skin was darkened to portray another race.The video, which was made by local comedian and Youtube performer Preeti Nair, showed her ranting against the advert. It later disappeared from her Facebook page and Youtube channel.The controversial "brownface" ad Nair was responding to had featured actor Dennis Chew from broadcaster Mediacorp as four characters. Chew´s skin was darkened to depict an Indian man, he put on a headscarf to act the part of a Muslim woman, and he also portrayed a Chinese man and a Chinese woman.In her video, Nair is seen rapping with her brother Subhas in front of the advert in a shirt saying: "Yes it´s because you´re Chinese". Nair often posts parodies and music videos on her Youtube and Facebook accounts under the name Preetipls.Police said in a statement a report has been lodged against ...

BAGHDAD: Around $10 million in aid for the displaced in northern Iraq´s Nineveh province, where the Islamic State group was based, has been embezzled by its fugitive ex-governor, the country´s anti-corruption commission said on Tuesday.A spokesperson for the Integrity Commission told AFP that its investigators had uncovered "invoices from developers in Iraqi Kurdistan". But, he added, "no receipt was found" for these debited sums, which were meant for the rehabilitation of two hospitals in the northern metropolis of Mosul, capital of Nineveh.Many of the province´s inhabitants are still displaced as public services have not been fully reestablished. Currently, 1.6 million Iraqis are still crowded into camps for the displaced, of which 40 percent are originally from Nineveh, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).A total of 11.3 billion Iraqi dinars had been allocated to the Provincial Council by the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, accord...

HONG KONG: Videos falsely claiming to show a Chinese military crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have flooded social media over the past week, according to an AFP investigation that has debunked multiple posts.The videos, which have been viewed millions of times, have compounded fears about China´s potential intervention into a two-month crisis that has seen increasingly violent confrontations between protesters and Hong Kong´s police.Some of the false posts appeared shortly after a Chinese defence ministry spokesman last week highlighted during a press conference a law that allows troops to be deployed across Hong Kong at the request of the city´s government. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2MtDYWq

LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair´s right-hand man said on Tuesday he was quitting the Labour Party for good and urged Jeremy Corbyn to make way for a more effective leader to fight Boris Johnson.In an open letter to Corbyn, Alastair Campbell said the party "no longer truly represents my values, or the hopes I have for Britain" and urged the veteran leftist Corbyn to consider standing down."With some sadness but absolute certainty, I have reached the conclusion that I no longer wish to stay in the party," he wrote in the letter published in The New European magazine. Anti-Brexit crusader Campbell had begun appealing against his expulsion as a Labour member for voting for the Liberal Democrats in May´s European elections.But Campbell said Johnson becoming Conservative prime minister and adopting a "crash and burn strategy deliberately aimed at creating the circumstances for a general election" had altered his outlook."I see no sign that ...

KABUL: Civilians are being killed and wounded at a “shocking and unacceptable” level in Afghanistan’s war despite a push to end the 18-year-old conflict, the UN said Tuesday.The latest information from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) shows a 27 percent drop in casualties for the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year — which was a record — but nonetheless, 1,366 civilians were killed and another 2,446 injured. While the UN welcomed the decrease, it “continues to regard the level of harm done to civilians as shocking and unacceptable,” UNAMA said in a statement.The agency “acknowledges that parties have announced efforts to reduce civilian casualties, but they are insufficient.” UNAMA also said that for the second quarter running, US and pro-government forces caused more civilian deaths than the Taliban and other insurgent groups. During the first half of 2019 pro-government forces, including the US, killed 717 civilians, an increase of 31 percent from...

LONDON: The estranged wife of the ruler of Dubai has applied for a forced marriage protection order, a London court heard Tuesday. Princess Haya, 45, a wife of 70-year-old United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, has applied for the order, as well as wardship of their children and for a non-molestation order relating to herself, the High Court heard.The details of the Forced Marriage Protection Order sought by the princess are not known, Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency reported. The couple are locked in a legal battle over their children’s welfare, being heard by judge Andrew McFarlane, the president of the family division of the High Court of England and Wales. The case is being heard at the Royal Courts of Justice complex in London, with a preliminary hearing taking place Tuesday. The judge allowed media to report that Princess Haya had made the applications. The court also heard that Sheikh Mohammed has applied to the High Court for...

BAGHDAD: Around $10 million in aid for the displaced in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province, where the Islamic State group was based, has been embezzled by its fugitive ex-governor, the country’s anti-corruption commission said Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Integrity Commission told AFP that its investigators had uncovered “invoices from developers in Iraqi Kurdistan”. But, he added, “no receipt was found” for these debited sums, which were meant for the rehabilitation of two hospitals in the northern metropolis of Mosul, capital of Nineveh. Many of the province’s inhabitants are still displaced as public services have not been fully reestablished. Currently, 1.6 million Iraqis are still crowded into camps for the displaced, of which 40 percent are originally from Nineveh, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2Mq3ADn

GENEVA: The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday the Trump administration’s decision to reinstate the death penalty at the federal level goes against the domestic and international trend to abolish or halt executions.The U.S. Justice Department last Thursday reinstated a two-decades-long dormant policy allowing the federal government’s use of capital punishment and immediately scheduled executions for five federal inmates.The United Nations has long opposed the death penalty, arguing for its abolition or at least a moratorium. Critics in the United States say it is disproportionately applied to minorities and the poor.“It’s also based on the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people,” U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said at a news briefing. “And there have been reports in the United States showing, using DNA evidence etc, that innocent people have been executed there,” he said. Colville said the Justice Department’s decision was “rolling back progress.”“I...

BEIJING: Most people sent to mass detention centers in China’s Xinjiang region have “returned to society”, a senior official from the region said on Tuesday, but he declined to give an estimate of for many have been held in recent years.U.N. experts and activists say at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs, and members of other largely Muslim minority groups, have been detained in camps in the western region.China describes the camps as vocational training centers to help stamp out religious extremism and teach new work skills. Xinjiang vice chairman Alken Tuniaz, asked at a briefing in Beijing for an account of how many people had been put in the facilities, said the number was “dynamic”, and that most had “successfully achieved employment”. “Currently, most people who have received training have already returned to society, returned home,” Tuniaz said.A transcript of the briefing emailed to reporters had been edited to read “most have already graduated”, using the word for students who fin...

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Monday failed to prevent the controversial sale of $8.1 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia, after President Donald Trump vetoed congressional resolutions blocking the deal.Trump sought approval for 22 separate sales of aircraft support maintenance, precision-guided munitions and other weapons and equipment to countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at a moment of heightened tensions in the Middle East. Critics said the arms sales would aggravate the devastating war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a US-backed coalition in a battle against the Iranian-supported Huthi rebels, and which the UN said has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Trump’s administration took the extraordinary step of bypassing Congress to approve the sale in May, as his administration declared Iran to be a “fundamental threat” to the stability of the Middle East. Senate Democrat Ben Cardin said that by not blocking the sales, Republicans “abdica...

MANILA: A fly that interrupted his speech was working under the orders of priests, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte joked Tuesday, as he launched a new verbal attack on the country’s influential Catholic church. The fly buzzed around Duterte as he spoke at a school in Manila, landing on his forehead and cheek and causing him to flap his arms in a futile bid to swat away the pesky insect. “I’ve had a fight with priests for a long time,” the 74-year-old strongman said without missing a beat. “This fly is taking orders from them. It has been following me for some time,” he added, drawing laughter from the audience. Duterte later cursed the fly when he missed flicking it with a finger as it landed on a microphone. “Wait until I’m done with my speech. I will smash you with the manuscript,” he said. Earlier, Duterte said the Catholic church’s dogma was “simply not acceptable to my God-given common sense”. “I have a God. I just don’t want to be saddled with religions,” he said. The Philip...

SANAA: Thirteen civilians including two children were killed in a Saudi artillery strike in northern Yemen on Monday in response to a rebel attack on a Saudi base, medics said. They said the strike on the Al-Thabit Al-Shaabi district of Saada province, a stronghold of the Huthi rebel group, also wounded 26 people including 12 children. Rebel-controlled media including the Huthis’ Al-Masirah channel earlier reported Saudi artillery fire on a market in the same area. The channel reported 36 casualties, including both dead and wounded, while the rebels’ spokesman said at least 10 civilians had died. Rebel media reported that the Huthis had carried out a drone attack against the King Khaled airbase in the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait. Saudi authorities gave no immediate confirmation of the drone attack or the artillery fire. Saudi Arabia heads a military coalition that has since 2015 been battling the Huthis, which are backed by the kingdom’s regional arch-rival Iran. The Huthi rebels, who...

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Muslim ministers who resigned en masse in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday bombings have rejoined the government, officials said Tuesday, after police cleared them of any involvement with Islamists. Nearly 100 people linked to a local jihadist group were arrested after the April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels that killed 258 people. Nine government legislators, several of them cabinet ministers, resigned in early June after a Buddhist lawmaker demanded their sacking and accused them of terror links. “The ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers who resigned recently were sworn in before the president last night,” a statement from the president’s office said. A spokesman for the lawmakers said they decided to accept their old portfolios after police cleared them of any links with Islamists involved with the bombings. Muslim leaders had said their community — which makes up 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s 21 million population — were victim...

SINGAPORE: Singapore police are investigating an “offensive” rap video made in response to a controversial advertisement in which a Chinese actor’s skin was darkened to portray another race. The video, which was made by local comedian and Youtube performer Preeti Nair, showed her ranting against the advert. It later disappeared from her Facebook page and Youtube channel. The controversial “brownface” ad Nair was responding to had featured actor Dennis Chew from broadcaster Mediacorp as four characters. Chew’s skin was darkened to depict an Indian man, he put on a headscarf to act the part of a Muslim woman, and he also portrayed a Chinese man and a Chinese woman. In her video, Nair is seen rapping with her brother Subhas in front of the advert in a shirt saying: “Yes it’s because you’re Chinese”. “Fuck it up sis, keep fucking it up, Chinese people always out here fucking it up,” she raps, riffing on a recently-released track by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. Nair often posts parodies a...

SYDNEY: The United States is planning to build additional military infrastructure in Australia once Congress gives approval to the US Navy for $211.5 million, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Tuesday. The plans for a bigger US footprint in Australia come at a time when the Western allies have become increasingly concerned by China’s efforts to expand its influence in the Pacific.The development of facilities will support the Force Posture Initiatives,” Payne told Sky News, referring to agreements reached in 2011 between the United States and Australia to enhance their defence relationship. Those initiatives entail 2,500 US Marines training in Australia each year, and regular joint training between the allies’ air forces. Payne did not say what military infrastructure the United States aimed to build, but Australian media reported earlier this month that Washington had plans for a new port facility near Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory. US Marines de...

DUBAI: Iran’s foreign minister called on Tuesday on U.S. President Donald Trump to reject his hawkish allies’ thirst for war, adding that Iranians had outlasted every aggressor for millennia.“For millennia, Iranians have outlasted every aggressor ...@realDonaldTrump: reject #B_Team’s fake history & its thirst for #ForeverWar. Diplomacy=prudence; never weakness,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted. Zarif has in the past said that a so-called “B-team” including Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton, an ardent Iran hawk, and conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could goad Trump into a conflict with Tehran. Trump himself tweeted on Monday: “Just remember, the Iranians never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!”.US says has asked Germany to ‘help secure’ Strait of Hormuz: The United States has asked Germany to join an international naval mission to help secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the US embassy in Berlin said Tuesday, as tensions mount between Washing...

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood's iconic personality Jennifer Aniston has received solace from her ex-husband Justin Theroux as he rejoined the actress after the loss of their beloved dog Dolly.The Hollywood's stars Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, who had separated their ways last year in February, reunited to mourn their pup who passed away on July 28.Jennifer, 50, was completely heartbroken over the loss of her pet and understandably took it really hard. However, she apparently found some comfort after having Justin by her side to remember Dolly’s life with a special ceremony. The actress was aware of the fact that Justin had the same feelings for Dolly as  it’s a huge loss for both of them. They really did look at dog as one of their children and Jen appreciates that they were able to come together to support each other at a time like this.Jen and Justin shared Dolly for the many years they were together after getting engaged in 2012, though Jen first adopted the pup in 2005. W...

‘The withdrawal agreement has been rejected by parliament a number of times now and clearly it’s not going to pass in its current form’LONDON: New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is waiting for EU leaders to agree to renegotiate their Brexit deal before he meets them, his spokeswoman said on Monday, as the government stepped up “no deal” planning.“He obviously wants to meet EU leaders and negotiate but not to be sat down and told that the EU cannot possibly reopen the withdrawal agreement,” the spokeswoman said.Johnson, who took office last week, wants to change the exit terms struck by his predecessor Theresa May but insists he will leave the European Union without any agreement at all if necessary on October 31.Brussels says it will not reopen the text.In phone calls last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron both invited Johnson to visit, but he has yet to announce any foreign travel ahead of the G7 summit in August.“The withdrawal agreement...

NEW DELHI: India’s wild tiger population has increased by more than 30 percent in the last four years, according to a new census released on Monday, raising hopes for the survival of the endangered species.The census found 2,967 tigers in the wild across the country, up from 2,226 four years ago in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed as a “historic achievement”“We reaffirm our commitment towards protecting the tiger,” Modi said in Delhi as he released the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018.“Some 15 years ago, there was serious concern about the decline in the population of tigers. It was a big challenge for us but with determination, we have achieved our goals.”The massive surveys are conducted every four years, with the latest census spanning 15 months and using 26,000 camera traps that took almost 350,000 images across known tiger habitats, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said at the census release.Images that showed the big cats were analysed using computer programme...

ANGEAC-CHARENTE, France: Scientists have unearthed a huge two-metre dinosaur bone in a winegrowing village in southwestern France dubbed a “national treasure” for its prehistoric gems.The 140-million-year-old thigh bone, which weighs 400 kilogrammes, is the latest discovery at the vast Angeac-Charente palaeontological site near Bordeaux, where experts and volunteers have dug up thousands of bones over the past decade.But thanks to its remarkably good condition, the femur -- which scientists say probably belonged to a gigantic sauropod -- could help piece together an incomplete set of bones which the latest find resembles.“We were wondering how big it was. We kept saying, ‘Oh, there’s more!’” said Maxime Lasseron, the doctoral student who made the gigantic discovery.The largest land animals ever to roam the Earth, sauropods were massive plant-eating dinosaurs with a long neck and tail, towering up to 18 metres tall.“It cost me a bit of money, because I had promised to bring champagne if...

KHARTOUM: Five demonstrators including students were shot dead at a rally in Sudan Monday, a day before protest leaders and ruling generals meet to resolve the remaining issues concerning the forming of a civilian administration.The two sides have already signed a power-sharing deal that aims to set up a joint civilian-military ruling body which in turn would install civilian rule.That is the main demand of a nationwide protest movement that led to the April ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir and has since demanded that the military council which took his place cede power to civilians.But ahead of the talks, five protesters were killed on Monday, including four students, in the central town of Al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, a doctors committee linked to the protest movement said in a statement.“Five martyrs succumbed to direct wounds from sniper bullets during a peaceful rally in Al-Obeid,” the committee said.A key protest group, the Sudanese Professionals Associa...