Pakistan targets Indian positions on LoC

Pakistan targets Indian positions on LoC

The Pakistan Army resorted to overnight heavy shelling and firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district. Using small arms, automatics and mortars, they targeted military and civilian facilities in nearly a dozen areas of the Balakote sector late on Tuesday, Defence Ministry sources said. “The Indian positions retaliated effectively. Firing exchanges continued […]

Russia will target US mid-term polls: CIA chief

Russia will target US mid-term polls: CIA chief

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) expects that Russia will target the US mid-term elections later this year, a media report said. Speaking to the BBC, Mike Pompeo said there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US. The US intelligence community has said that it […]

Pyongyang cancels joint event, blames S.Korean media

Pyongyang cancels joint event, blames S.Korean media

Pyongyang has cancelled one of the joint events it had agreed to hold with Seoul following a “historic” meeting earlier in January, and has blamed the South Korean media for it. In a fax on Monday, Pyongyang cancelled the celebration of the joint cultural performance, scheduled for February 4, accusing the South’s media of encouraging […]

Dutch banks, tax authorities hit by cyberattacks

Dutch banks, tax authorities hit by cyberattacks

Three Dutch banks and the Dutch tax authorities were hit by cyberattacks on Monday, media reports said. It is unclear who is behind the so-called distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Rabobank, the Netherlands’ second largest lender, had a failure that lasted about three hours on Monday morning. Customers had no access to mobile and […]

Alex Azar sworn in as new US health secretary

Alex Azar sworn in as new US health secretary

Alex Azar was sworn in on Monday as the new secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). During a swear-in ceremony at the White House for Azar, President Donald Trump said that the new HHS head will lead the country’s effort to “confront the national emergency of addiction and death due […]

Trump’s SOTU address to cover immigration, trade

Trump’s SOTU address to cover immigration, trade

US President Donald Trump said that his State of the Union (SOTU) address, slated on Tuesday night, will cover “a lot of territory,” including immigration and trade. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said on Monday he’ll talk about what he touted as “great success” of the stock market and tax cuts passed […]

US lawmakers vote to release memo on Russian probe

US lawmakers vote to release memo on Russian probe

The House Intelligence Committee has voted to make public a Republican memo that reportedly shows abuses by the FBI and Department of Justice in launching the Russia probe against US President Donald Trump. Disregarding DoJ’s warnings that the action would be “extraordinarily reckless”, the Republicans voted on Monday, hours ahead of Trump’s State of the […]

Syrian opposition to boycott Sochi peace talks

Syrian opposition to boycott Sochi peace talks

A committee representing the largest faction of Syria’s armed opposition has announced here in Austria that it would not participate in next week’s Syrian peace conference in Sochi, Russia. “The decision has been made to not go to Sochi,” a spokesperson for the opposition High Negotiations Committee told Efe on Friday following the conclusion of […]

Australian opposition calls for referendum on republic

Australian opposition calls for referendum on republic

The Australian Labour Party (ALP) has called for a joint referendum on indigenous recognition in its constitution and the country becoming a republic. Anthony Albanese, former Deputy Prime Minister, on Friday suggested that the referendum should be held on Australia Day so as to create a “platform of unity.” Under Australian law, any change to […]

Nassar scandal: US university president resigns

Nassar scandal: US university president resigns

Michigan State University (MSU) on Friday accepted the resignation of its president over the university’s failure to stand up for victims of former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who sexually abused young athletes for more than two decades. Lou Anna Simon submitted her resignation as MSU president on Wednesday night, immediately after Nassar, who worked for […]