Category: WORLD NEWS

Meseberg (Germany), Jun 19 (DIN NEWS) German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted French President Emmanuel Macron today to hammer out reforms that can stop the “disintegration” of the European Union, torn by populist forces and deep discord over immigration. The two leaders of Europe’s biggest economies will seek to thrash out a compromise between Macron’s bold vision for sweeping EU change and Germany’s stance that is more cautious, especially when it comes to finance. Merkel and Macron have both stressed that, as US President Donald Trump openly challenges the EU with…

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Baghdad, June 18 (DIN NEWS) An Iraqi paramilitary force today accused the United States of killing 22 of its fighters in an overnight air raid just inside Syria’s border with Iraq that a monitor said left dozens dead. “US planes fired two guided missiles at a fixed position of Hashed al-Shaabi units on the border with Syria, killing 22 fighters and wounding 12,” said the Iran-backed Hashed (Popular Mobilisation Units). It said the raid took place “700 metres (yards) inside Syria”. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that…

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Munich, Jun 18 (DIN NEWS) Hardliners in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc today gave her a two-week ultimatum to tighten asylum rules or risk pitching Germany into a political crisis that would also rattle Europe. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer’s CSU party at a meeting unanimously backed his call to give Merkel a fortnight to find a European deal on the burning issue by a June 28-29 EU summit, failing which he would order border police to turn back migrants. Three years after her decision to open Germany’s borders to migrants…

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Islamabad, Jun 17 (DIN NEWS) In a fresh trouble for Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the anti-corruption body has launched another inquiry against him on a journalist’s complaint that over Rs 56 million was sent out of the country by his family between 1988 and 1991, a media report has said. The development assumes significance as Sharif, his sons Hussain and Hassan, daughter Maryam, and son-in-law former army captain Muhammad Safdar are already facing three corruption charges for money laundering and illegal offshore holdings in the Panama Papers scandal.…

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Washington, Jun 17 (DIN NEWS) US President Donald Trump today defended his decision to stop military exercises with South Korea, saying such “war games” were “provocative and expensive” but threatened to re-start them if talks with North Korea break down. Trump in a series of tweets claimed that it was his idea to stop the “war games” during the summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. “Holding back the war games during the negotiations was my request because they are VERY EXPENSIVE and set a bad light during a good…

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Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh), Jun 16 (DIN NEWS) As Muslims around the world celebrated Eid with feasting and gift-giving, Rohingya refugees in squalid Bangladesh camps marked the festival today with a peaceful demonstration demanding justice and dignified repatriation. For the hundreds of thousands of the Muslim minority who have fled neighbouring Myanmar since an army crackdown last August, this is the first Eid-al-Fitr they have spent in the cramped tent cities. Rahim Uddin, a 35-year-old refugee, told DIN NEWS that the holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of…

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Jalalabad, Jun 16 (DIN NEWS) A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Afghan Taliban, security forces, and civilians celebrating an unprecedented ceasefire in the war-torn country today, killing at least 20 people, officials said. The attack came as President Ashraf Ghani announced an extension of the government’s week-long ceasefire with the militant group after both sides agreed to halt hostilities for Eid. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast that also wounded at least 16 others marking the suspension of fighting in Rodat district…

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Marawi, Jun 15 (DIN NEWS) Muslim residents of a southern Philippine city devastated by last year’s bloody militant siege are celebrating the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr in gunfire-riddled mosques while many whose homes were leveled by the fighting prayed in tent shelters. A few thousand people walked past burned homes Friday to the city landmark, the pockmarked Golden Mosque, to celebrate the holiday marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. In an evacuation center elsewhere in the lakeside city, homeless residents prayed in the open for an…

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The Dragon Boat Festival, organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is commonly associated with sunny, energy-filled summer days and adrenaline-pumping dragon boat races. As a global metropolis, Hong Kong is well-known for transforming Chinese and Western festivals into exhilarating and lively events, and the Dragon Boat Festival is certainly no exception. With the Dragon Boat Festival and a series of other celebrations happening in June, it is a great time for visitors to come to Hong Kong to experience the city’s diverse cultural and festive appeal. If one…

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Lahore, Jun 14 (DIN NEWS) Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif today left for London along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz to see his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz, despite the country’s anti-graft body’s request to put their names on the Exit Control List (ECL) fearing they may not return to face corruption cases in court. Sharif, 68, and his daughter left for London via Qatar from the Lahore airport this morning. “Leaving for London. We will be back next week. Can’t wait to meet and hug Ami (mother),” Maryam tweeted. Kulsoom…

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