ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday discussed with US counterpart Donald Trump ways to end the crisis in Idlib, Syria’s last major rebel bastion, and condemned Damascus’ attacks there, the Turkish presidency said. “Stressing that the regime’s most recent attacks are unacceptable, the president and Trump exchanged views on ways to end the crisis in Idlib without further …

MUNICH: US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that a truce agreement between the United States and the Taliban that could lead to the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan is not without risk but looks very promising.” Ahead of a formal announcement of the seven-day “reduction in violence” deal, Esper said it was time to give peace a …

The number of new cases from China’s coronavirus epidemic dropped for a third consecutive day on Sunday, as the World Health Organisation chief warned it was “impossible” to predict how the outbreak would develop. Global concern remains high about the spread of the virus, which first emerged in China’s central Hubei province in December, with the first death outside Asia …

Thirty-one people were killed in air strikes on Yemen on Saturday, the United Nations said, the victims of an apparent Saudi-led retaliation after Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down one of its jets. The Tornado aircraft came down on Friday in northern Al-Jawf province during an operation to support government forces, a rare shooting down that prompted operations …

Multiple rockets hit an Iraqi base hosting American troops near the United States embassy early Sunday, the latest in a flurry of attacks against US assets in the country. “The coalition confirms small rockets impacted the Iraqi base hosting (coalition) troops in the International Zone […] no casualties,” said coalition spokesman Myles Caggins. The base, known as Union III, is …

Another 70 people on board a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases from the vessel to 355, Japanese health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Sunday. The Diamond Princess, owned by Carnival Corp, has been quarantined since arriving in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, on February 3, after a man who …

KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has indicted an Islamic State-inspired suspect in a case pertaining to a cracker attack on a Karachi Imambargah in 2014. The accused, Saad Aziz, alias Tin Tin, and his three alleged absconding accomplices have been charged with attacking the Islamic Research Centre Imambargah near Ayesha Manzil, killing a minor girl and injuring nine others on Oct …

PESHAWAR: A local court on Saturday gave another chance to Prime Minister Imran Khan to respond to a defamation suit filed against him by former MPA Fauzia Bibi over an allegation of horse-trading in the 2018 Senate elections. As the counsel for Mr Imran, including lead lawyer Babar Awan, didn’t turn up, additional district and sessions judge Abdul Majid adjourned …

ISLAMABAD: While the country lacks around 90,000 nurses and President Dr Arif Alvi declaring 2020 as the nursing year, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has decided to merge the decades-old School of Nursing and the College of Nursing at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). If implemented, the decision will not only reduce enrollment of students but would …

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed said on Saturday the government needed to work seriously on cyber laws and enhance capacity of law-enforcement agencies to deal with the cyber crimes. He was speaking at a seminar on cyber laws, organised by the Punjab Judicial Academy in a local hotel on Saturday. The CJP said almost all the countries had …