MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin today lifted a ban on Russian firms from working on Iranian enrichment sites as he travelled to Tehran for his first visit since 2007. A decree Putin signed today enables Russian firms to work with Iranian companies on the Fordo enrichment site and help Tehran in redesigning its Arak nuclear reactor. Russian companies can now also ...

BANGLADESH: Two opposition leaders in Bangladesh have been executed on Sunday in connection with war crimes of 1971. The special court of Bangladesh for the trials of 1971 war-crimes, called International Crime Tribunal, had sentenced Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid to death in 2013, which was upheld by the Supreme ...

PAKISTAN: National Unity Council, (Mili Yakjehti Council) an umbrella organization of Pakistan Islamist parties and organizations, have warned that they would stop Pakistan from becoming a liberal country. Hafiz Saeed, head of the banned organization of Jamat-ud-Dawa, has said that he has been made surprised by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s statement on the liberalization of the country. The Council has ...

PAKISTAN: A mass burial of 41 militants, all 15-19 in age, has been offered today in Timergara, the capital of Lower Dir. They were received in Timergara by local people wrapped in the flags of al-Badar organization and Jumat-ud-Dawa. 21 among the dead are believed to be from Albadar organization, considered to be droned in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The ...

CHARSADDA: The Awami National Party central president Asfandyar Wali Khan has reiterated that he will not attend any government briefing until his party’s reservations regarding the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) were redressed. Addressing a party workers convention at Gulabad here on Friday, the ANP chief demanded that all announcements, including establishment of industrial estates in Khyber ...

The United Nations has called the states to fight “a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security” which is Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL, Da’esh). All 15 members of the UN Security Council voted to adopt the French-proposed resolution. The resolution “calls upon member states that have the capacity to do so to take all necessary measures … on ...

AFGHANISTAN: Up to 12 Daesh (ISIS) militants were killed in a clash with security forces in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said. The district chief of Achin, Haji Ghalib, said that the insurgents attacked security check post in Abdul Khel area. In retaliation, security forces killed a dozen Daesh militants and wounded several others. He said the clash lasted for several ...

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hekmat Khalil Karzai, said that Kabul had provided the weapons “wish list” to New Delhi. He said that Afghanistan’s National Security Advisor, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, has given the ‘wish list’ regarding the provision of military hardware to his counterpart in his recent visit to India. Khalil Karzai said that Atmar with his counterpart has discussed ...

PUNJAB: An angry mob set ablaze a factory owned by members of the Ahmadiyya community in Jhelum on Friday. According to sources, the mob attacked the factory after accusing one person who worked there of committing blasphemy. Many workers fled the factory complex, which contains a residential area, with their families, sources said. But some workers were reportedly still inside the ...

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Senior Vice-Chairman and Senator Makhdoom Ameen Faheem died after a prolonged illness late last night in a private hospital in Karachi. He was diagnosed with blood cancer sometime ago and was hospitalised after his condition worsened a few weeks ago. He was 76 and was the spiritual head of Sarwari Jamat. Belonging from Hala, Sindh, he contested ...