International

BAGHDAD, Oct 24, (Agencies): Iraqi pro-government paramilitaries launched an offensive against Kurdish troops on Tuesday near the Turkish frontier, pushing towards a strategic border crossing and oil export pipeline hub that Baghdad says must come under its control. The Iraqi government has transformed the balance of power in the north …

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24, (Agencies): US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Islamabad Tuesday as Washington turns up the heat on Pakistan for allegedly providing “safe havens” for Taleban militants. Tillerson’s visit, his first to Pakistan since becoming secretary of state, comes months after US President Donald Trump angrily accused …

‘Untenable situation’: Bangladesh GENEVA, Oct 23, (Agencies): Kuwait announced on Monday its commitment to donate $15 million offered by official and public bodies during the International Donor Pledging Conference for the Rohingya Refugees to alleviate their sufferings. This came in a speech by Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah in …

BEIRUT, Oct 23, (AFP): The Islamic State group executed dozens of civilians this month in the Syrian desert, a monitor said Monday, in a gruesome massacre as the jihadists see their “caliphate” collapse. The extremist group last week lost its key Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, the latest in a string …

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Oct 23, (AP): Jordan’s queen said Monday that the international community must respond effectively to end the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fl ed to Bangladesh to escape persecution by Myanmar authorities. Queen Rania, who visited a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar …

DOHA, Qatar, Oct 22, (Agencies): US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday pressed the Trump administration’s case for isolating and containing Iran in the Middle East and beyond as he pushed for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite in common cause to counter growing Iranian assertiveness. He called for …

Al-Jarallah heads team for Rohingya confab in Geneva COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Oct 22, (KUNA): Said to be the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis, the Rohingya community who have been fl eeing to Bangladesh have recorded half a million people since violence broke out in neighbouring Myanmar on Aug 25. Kuwait …

KABUL, Oct 22, (Agencies): A spate of deadly Taleban attacks targeting Afghan forces this week was a show of strength against Donald Trump’s new strategy, and signalled a push to strike security bases rather than cities, analysts said. In three of the four ambushes since Tuesday, militants used bomb-laden Humvees …

DOHA, Qatar, Oct 21, (Agencies): As US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits the Middle East this weekend, he’ll hope to achieve something that has eluded top American diplomats for a generation: sealing a new alliance between Saudi Arabia and Iraq that would shut the doors of the Arab world …

G7 countries and tech giants including Google, Facebook and Twitter on Friday agreed to work together to block the dissemination of Islamist extremism over the internet. “These are the first steps towards a great alliance in the name of freedom,” Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti said after a two-day meeting …