AFRICA: Malian special forces have entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in the capital, Bamako, to try to free hostages taken after it was stormed by gunmen. The hotel says 138 people remain inside. The gunmen stormed it shooting and shouting “God is great!” in Arabic, eyewitnesses say. Malian officials said 30 hostages have been freed. State TV earlier put the ...

BRUSSELS: EU ministers hold emergency talks today on tightening border checks after the killing of the ringleader of the Paris attacks in an apartment in the French capital raised troubling questions about the bloc’s security. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin suspected of masterminding the attacks that left 129 people dead in the name of the Islamic State group, ...

UNITED NATIONS—The U.N. diplomat tasked with trying to bring Syria’s warring parties together said Thursday that a cease-fire covering large parts of the country is not unrealistic. Staffan de Mistura told reporters that previous efforts at localized truces had failed because they lacked the backing of regional and international players who have influence over the parties. “There are indications,” he ...

WASHINGTON: The US has no role to play in Kashmir issue and it is for India and Pakistan to address the problem through dialogue, a top American official has said. This comes a day after visiting Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif raised the matter with US Secretary of State John Kerry. Expressing concern over violence on the line of ...

FRANCE: The ringleader in last week’s bloody terrorist attacks in Paris died in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday on an apartment building north of the French capital, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced Thursday. Authorities zeroed in on a building in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis after picking up phone conversations indicating that a relative of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who authorities believe coordinated ...

Germany has declared that 130 more German soldiers would be sent to Afghanistan. Despite that most of the NATO countries have withdrawn their military presence in Afghanistan, Germany still keeps 750 soldiers in Afghanistan. The additional 130 soldiers would raise the German military presence in Afghanistan to 980. The deployment of more German soldiers in Afghanistan comes after the Taliban ...

The new report of Human Rights Watch reveals that Pakistan has to take necessary steps to stop the rampant police harassment, abuse, and violence against Afghans living in Pakistan. According to the report, incidents of violence, intimidation and abuse against Afghans have increased in Pakistan after the massacre of Army Public School in Peshawar by the so-called Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Phelim ...

While addressing delegates of a youth Jirga for justice and reforms, Ashraf Ghani promised on Monday to curb unemployment in the country and create more opportunities for youth in government administration. The delegated had come from various provinces of Afghanistan. Ashraf Ghani said that bringing reform is the duty of government while program will soon be started to put a ...

LONDON: Amidst the speculations over the reasons for break-up between Reham Khan and the former cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, Reham Khan said that no one but they themselves are responsible for the divorce, as their marriage could never become a personal matter, because everybody had a say in it. in a sense, Reham Khan said, with her marriage the whole ...

AFGHANISTAN: A coordinated attack on the Arghandab district headquarters in southern Kandahar province ended after nearly one hour of fighting, in which five suicide bombers and an army soldier were killed and six more were injured, provincial officials said. The attack was launched at 7:00am when one suicide bomber blew his explosive packed vehicle near to the first security gate ...