Palestinians killed in Israeli arrest raids

The Israeli army has shot dead two Palestinian men in separate raids in a town and a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, sources on both sides said.

One of the victims, a member of the Palestinian security forces, was killed during an overnight arrest raid early on Thursday in the northern town of Qalqilya.

"During an ambush organised to arrest an armed man... who had fired on Israeli soldiers several times in recent weeks, the man opened fire on soldiers, who fired back," the Israeli army said.

Indian sailor Captain Sunil James released from Togo jail: Foreign Ministry

Sunil James, a Merchant Navy Captain who was in jail in Togo, western Africa, for the last five months was released today, the ministry for external affairs said. He is expected to be in India latest by tomorrow.

Another sailor who had been imprisoned along with Captain James, Vijayan, has been released too. Mr Akbaruddin said the two men were released after India's High Commissioner in Ghana K Jeeva Sagar met Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe.

Militants kill family of five in Iraq

Militants dressed in army uniforms attacked the house of an anti-Al Qaeda militiaman in Iraq on Thursday, killing him, his wife and their three children, security officials said.

The attack took place in the Abu Ghraib area, west of Baghdad, the officials said.

Violence in Iraq has surged this year to levels not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

NAB allows Turkish rental power ship to sail to Dubai

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to Turkish energy firm Karkey Karadeniz ElektrikUretim A.S. (Karkey) to sail one of its power-vessels to Dubai for maintenance purposes.

Karkey was one of 12 rental power companies that were awarded contracts in 2009. However, the Supreme Court cancelled all contracts in March 2012 after learning about lack of transparency and the companies’ failure to produce power in the required quantity despite having received money in advance.

Saudi jailed 15 years for 'Qaeda recruiting': report

RIYADH: A Saudi court has jailed a man for 15 years after convicting him of recruiting 14 nationals to join Al Qaeda's affiliate in neighbouring Yemen, Al-Hayat newspaper reported Thursday.

A Riyadh court specialising in security cases convicted the unnamed Saudi national of recruiting the militants online after he held meetings in Yemen with Al Qaeda leaders, the daily said.

The defendant helped the recruits reach Yemen and issued fake Yemeni identity cards for seven of them, it said.

At least 23 suspected militants killed in N Waziristan

MIRAMSHAH: At least 23 suspected militants were killed late on Wednesday during a clash with security forces in the country's troubled northwest, officials said.

According to a security official who requested anonymity, the suspected militants tried to ambush a convoy of security forces which was returning back from Khajuri checkpost area in Mirali Tehsil of North Waziristan tribal region.

The convoy had gone in the area to rescue soldiers who were injured in a suicide bomb attack yesterday.

Pakistan ready to tour India for cricket revival: Sethi

SHARJAH: Pakistan's interim cricket chief Najam Sethi on Wednesday reiterated his stance to revive ties with arch-rivals India, saying his team was ready to go across the border.

India stalled all bilateral ties with Pakistan in the wake of the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, which New Deli blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

Tokyo governor resigns over money scandal

Tokyo's governor, one of the main faces of the mega-city's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics, resigned Thursday after admitting he was naive for accepting an undeclared $500,000 from a hospital tycoon.

Naoki Inose, who was elected head of one of the world's biggest conurbations a year ago, had faced weeks of intense pressure over suspicions that the money amounted to a bribe in an attempt to influence policy.

Former Haram imam refused entry to UK

A former imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah was stopped from traveling to Britain as he boarded his plane in Riyadh bound for London on Wednesday.

Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani had performed the noon and afternoon prayers together just before the boarding announcement at King Khaled International Airport’s departure terminal.

“I was stopped at the door of the plane and told that the authorities received a message from the British Embassy saying that I was not allowed to enter Britain,” Al-Kalbani told Arab News.

SC orders production of 14 missing persons in court tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday expressed its dissatisfaction over a report submitted by the Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif before it which listed details of missing persons and ordered the production of 14 of the 35 missing persons in court tomorrow and the remaining on Dec 9, DawnNews reported.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed the hearing over the missing persons case.

SC orders production of 14 missing persons in court tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday expressed its dissatisfaction over a report submitted by the Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif before it which listed details of missing persons and ordered the production of 14 of the 35 missing persons in court tomorrow and the remaining on Dec 9, DawnNews reported.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed the hearing over the missing persons case.

Two gunmen kidnap schoolgirl in Assam

JORHAT: Two unidentified gunmen kidnapped 11 schoolchildren of Nazira Kendra Vidayalaya by hijacking the school van in which they were returning home at Simaluguri in Sivsagar district near the Assam-Nagaland border on Wednesday afternoon.

However, the van driver's presence of mind and courage helped in saving 10 of the students from the clutches of the abductors. The miscreants forced the driver to drive towards Nagaland, but the latter immobilized the vehicle by driving it into a drain in the Chantak tea estate, some distance from the kidnapping spot. The kidnappers then left behind 10 of the children there, and took away one — a girl — towards Nagaland.

Fifty two killed in targeted attacks in Yemen

SANAA: A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into the Yemeni defence ministry complex on Thursday, followed by an armed assault in which 52 people died, including seven foreign medical staff, officials said.

The brazen daylight attack on the sprawling facility followed a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials, as the country struggles to complete a thorny political transition.

"This terrorist act has killed 52 people," Yemen's supreme security committee said.

Odisha MLAs Condemn Sharif for Comment on Kashmir

Cutting across party lines, members of the Odisha Assembly today condemned Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his reported statement that Kashmir is a flash point which "can trigger a fourth war" with India.

The MLAs, belonging to the ruling BJD and Congress, favoured a censure motion against the Pakistan Prime Minister for his "dreams" of a "fourth war" against India.

South Africa thrash India by 141 runs, take 1-0 lead

JOHANNESBURG: It was not the nip in the air but the murderous blade of South African batsmen and the hostility of their pacers that sent a chill down the spine as the hosts first slaughtered India's toothless attack to post a formidable tally of 358/4 and then bowled India out for 217 in the first ODI to win by a massive 141-run margin. This result might just be the prelude to a torrid December.

Chasing a massive target under lights, the Indian top-order was clueless against pace and bounce extracted by South African pace quintet of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Ryan McLaren, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell.

Pakistan bowler Bilawal Bhatti travels to UAE on expired visa

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan fast bowler Bilawal Bhatti has been waylaid in Dubai since Tuesday after landing in the United Arab Emirates with an expired visa.

The Pakistan Cricket Board says in a statement it has made arrangements for Bhatti to stay at a hotel inside Dubai airport and has applied for a new visa. The board is hopeful the issue will be resolved within 24 hours and Bhatti can continue his journey home.

Militants kill policeman in checkpost attack near Bannu

PESHAWAR: Militants killed one policeman and wounded another in an attack on a checkpost in northwestern Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.

The attack took place on the outskirts of Bannu town, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which has seen several terrorist attacks in the past — many of them targeting security officials.

Iraq police storm mall, kill gunmen after standoff

KIRKUK: Iraqi police stormed a mall in a northern city that gunmen used to launch an attack on a nearby police station, killing three militants and ending an hours-long standoff that trapped some storekeepers inside, authorities said Thursday.

Militants held off police from their rooftop position on six-story Jawahir mall in Kirkuk overnight, throwing down grenades and firing on officers and civilians who tried to flee the fighting.

Sixteen Iranians arrested for anti-government activities

Washington: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has arrested 16 persons for providing material to anti-government websites that are reportedly seeking to topple the country's Islamic ruling system, state media reports.

The official IRNA news agency quoted a local prosecutor in southeast Iran, Ahmad Ghorbani, as saying that all 16 activists are facing charges of cooperating with Western and anti-Iran news networks, Fox News reports.

Car bomb hits Yemen's defense ministry, 2 killed

 At least 20 soldiers were killed and dozens of others injured when suicide car bombings rocked the Yemeni defense ministry in the capital Sanna on Thursday morning, officials told Xinhua.

An official of the defense ministry said anonymously that the explosions were caused by suicide car bombings that damaged part of the wall of the ministry in downtown Yemen, adding that first car bomb hit the western gate of the ministry and the second one broke into the gate and exploded inside the ministry complex.

Eleven militants arrested in Manipur

IMPHAL: Eleven militants have been arrested during combing operations in Manipur, police said on Wednesday.Five militants, including two women, were arrested by 24th Assam Rifles battalion personnel at Khudengtabi area in Chandel district after they had crossed the Indo-Myanmar border and were proceeding to Imphal on Tuesday, they said.

Missed chances cost England ground

England were left to rue missed chances as Australia shaded the opening day in Adelaide. Having won the toss, Australia found progress through two solid partnerships but England created enough chances to get on top - only to drop three catches.Three wickets frittered away in an extended afternoon session undermined Australia's workmanlike intent to build on their victory in the first Test at the Gabba by posting an unassailable first-innings score on a placid Adelaide surface. Instead, as Shane Watson and Chris Rogers fell in successive overs, then Steve Smith succumbed to the last ball before tea, England reached the break in an optimistic frame of mind they could barely have imagined.

Bangladesh's besieged ex-dictator threatens suicide

DHAKA: Bangladesh's former military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad threatened to kill himself Thursday after security forces besieged his home following his decision to boycott next month's elections.

“I have loaded four pistols and I've told the government that if they play any tricks with me, I will kill myself,” Ershad told a local television crew during an interview inside his home in the early hours.

“I will die before the RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) or the police can lay a finger on me,” he said, before making a trigger-pulling gesture towards his head.