SEOUL: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un drove a “new-type main battle tank” while overseeing military training exercises, state media said on Thursday, as Seoul and Washington wrap joint drills to improve deterrence. Wearing a black leather jacket, Kim saluted ranks of camouflage-uniformed troops, and watched live-fire “training march” exercises from a field command post, flanked by top generals, images …

GAZA STRIP: Efforts grew on Thursday to get more aid into the war-devastated Gaza Strip, where the UN warns of famine and desperate residents have stormed relief shipments. After mediators failed to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas for the holy fasting month of Ramazan, which started on Monday, fighting continued with at least 69 deaths over the previous …

MARSEILLE: At least 60 people died on a migrant boat that lost power as it tried to reach Europe from Libya, an aid group said on Thursday, citing accounts from those rescued. “Survivors report that at least 60 people died en route, including women and at least one child,” said Marseille-based SOS Mediterranee. The group’s Ocean Viking rescue ship is …

WASHINGTON: US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Thursday for new elections in Israel, harshly criticising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace. Democrat Schumer, long a supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking US Jewish elected official, told the Senate that Netanyahu’s government “no longer fits the needs of Israel” five months into a war. “As a …

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s top humanitarian aid official said on Thursday he had seen no evidence from Israel to back its accusations against staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which should continue playing a “critical” role in Gaza. UNRWA, which provides aid and services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and across the region, has been in crisis since Israel accused …

Russians started voting on Friday in a three-day presidential election that is set to hand veteran leader Vladimir Putin another six-year term as the raging conflict in Ukraine spreads further into Russian territory. In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, the former KGB agent is casting the election as a show of Russians’ loyalty …

KARACHI: Authorities have found hundreds of ‘ghost employees’ across the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and towns, with many being employed at two government institutions at the same time, who are drawing salaries regularly and receiving perks for both jobs without performing duties at any institution. This emerged on Thursday when the newly appointed Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani sought …

RAWALPINDI: Despite tall claims made by the divisional administration, there seems no let-up in the price hike of edible items in Ramazan. On Thursday, onions were selling at Rs300 per kg in the garrison city while its official pricewas Rs236 per kg; tomatoes were available at Rs200 per kg against the official rate of Rs145 per kg and potatoes Rs70 …

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court has reopened three corruption references against the two sons of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after their surrender. The cases against Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz were reopened on Thursday after the court suspended their perpetual arrest warrants and granted them bail against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each. Mr Sharif’s sons were declared proclaimed offenders after …

ISLAMABAD: “Phone hacking has become so easy that if you leave your mobile phone somewhere and go to the washroom, I can connect and hack it before you return,” the head of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told the Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Thursday. This was the explanation provided by PTA Chairman Major-General Hafeezur Rehman to a bench headed …