Category: WORLD NEWS

Islamabad, Jul 4 (DIN NEWS) Pakistan’s Supreme Court today sought details of former presidents Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari while hearing a case on the recovery of losses incurred because of the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The apex court ordered that all respondents should declare their properties held abroad as well as foreign accounts and any offshore companies they own in affidavits submitted to the court, Dawn News reported. The NRO was promulgated in October 2007 by the government of the then president Musharraf. Under the ordinance, cases…

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Brussels, Jul 3 (DIN NEWS) NATO’s European allies are pushing back against US criticism that they are not spending enough on defence, as President Donald Trump ratchets up pressure ahead of a summit next week. After Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, NATO allies agreed in 2014 to end defence budget cuts, to begin spending more as their economies grew and to move toward a goal of 2 per cent of GDP within a decade. In an email to The Associated Press today, Norwegian Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said that “Norway…

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Geneva, July 3 (DIN NEWS) A plan by the United States to cut Iran’s oil production to zero is a “fantasy,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said today during his European tour to rally support for the 2015 nuclear deal. Washington has said it wants to pressure Iran to change its behaviour by taking away all revenue Tehran generates from crude sales, part of the confrontational approach adopted by President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the historic nuclear pact in May. “These are exaggerated statements that can never be implemented,”…

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Amman, Jul 2 (DIN NEWS) A regime offensive in southern Syria has forced more than 270,000 people from their homes, the United Nations said today. “We were expecting the number of displaced in southern Syria to reach 200,000, but it has already exceeded 270,000 people in record time,” said Mohammad Hawari, the spokesman for UN refugee agency UNHCR in Amman. Nearly two weeks of ferocious air strikes and barrel bombing have seen regime forces retake swathes of rebel-held territory in the southern province of Daraa.

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Kabul, Jul 2 (DIN NEWS) The Islamic State group today claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan that killed at least 19 people, mostly Sikhs and Hindus. The bomber targeted a delegation from the minority communities as it was travelling to the governor’s residence in the eastern city of Jalalabad yesterday for a meeting with President Ashraf Ghani. Avtar Singh Khalsa, a longtime leader of the Sikh community, was among those killed. Another 20 people were wounded. In a statement released today, the IS said it had targeted…

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Colombo, Jul 1 (DIN NEWS) Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa today dismissed a media report that claimed China had funded his unsuccessful 2015 presidential re-run. “No contribution was made by China to my 2015 presidential election campaign,” Rajapaksa said, breaking his silence on the issue. “While claiming that my ‘affiliates’ and ‘campaign aides’ had got the money and that volunteers’ had delivered the cheques to Temple Trees, the writer has been intentionally vague about who had given this money and who had received it,” the former president said in…

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Jerusalem, Jul 1 (DIN NEWS) Civilians fleeing Syria’s war will not be allowed to enter Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today adding however that his government will continue providing them with humanitarian aid. Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled a government offensive in the country’s south that started on June 19 and some have set up makeshift camps near the Israeli-held Golan Heights. “Regarding southern Syria, we will continue to defend our borders,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting. “We will extend humanitarian assistance to…

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The suspected sole surviving gunman from 2015 attacks in Paris has come close to admitting his role in the carnage in a rare statement to investigators in which he justified the killings, reports said today. Salah Abdeslam, in custody in France over the November 2015 attacks that left 130 people dead, has refused to cooperate with French judges ever since his arrest five months after the atrocities. But yesterday he recorded a statement in which he parroted the propaganda of Islamist extremist groups such as Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the…

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Canada announced billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs against the US in a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration’s duties on Canadian steel and aluminum. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government released the final list of items yesterday that will be targeted beginning July 1. Some items will be subject to taxes of 10 or 25 per cent.”We will not escalate and we will not back down,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said. The taxes on items including ketchup, lawn mowers and motor boats amount to 12.6 billion.”This is a perfectly…

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The suspected sole surviving gunman from 2015 attacks in Paris has come close to admitting his role in the carnage in a rare statement to investigators in which he justified the killings, reports said today. Salah Abdeslam, in custody in France over the November 2015 attacks that left 130 people dead, has refused to cooperate with French judges ever since his arrest five months after the atrocities. But yesterday he recorded a statement in which he parroted the propaganda of Islamist extremist groups such as Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the…

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