London: A 34-year-old British Muslim mother has been jailed for two and a half years by a UK court for lying to authorities and trying to take her children, including an 11-month-old baby, to be raised in ISIS-held territory in Syria. Muslim convert Lorna Moore was found guilty of failing to tell authorities her husband Sajid Aslam, 34, was about to leave for Syria to join ISIS, Old Bailey court…

New Delhi:  The pact between India and Iran to develop the strategically located Chabahar port, along with the one with Afghanistan on road and rail network, will counter China and Pakistan's alliance in South West Asia, BMI Research said today. "The agreement between India and Iran to develop the latter's port of Chabahar is a major boost for both countries, as well as Afghanistan.…

Islamabad:  Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif today told the US envoy that the American drone attack on Pakistani soil to kill Taliban chief Mullah Mansour is detrimental to bilateral ties and counter-productive for the Afghan peace process. US Ambassador David Hale visited the military's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the army said. The situation arising after US drone strike…

At the entrance to Thaungtan village there’s a brand-new sign, bright yellow, that bears the message: “No Muslims allowed to stay overnight. No Muslims allowed to rent houses. No marriage with Muslims.”   The post was erected in late March by Buddhist residents of the village in Myanmar’s lush Irrawaddy delta region who signed, or were strong-armed into signing, a document…

The Afghan Taliban have announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a US drone strike.   In a statement, the Taliban acknowledged Mansour's death for the first time and named his successor as Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada.   Mansour was killed in a strike on his car in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday.   He took over the militant group…

Madhesi and other ethnic parties agitating against the new constitution of Nepal boycotted an all-party meeting called on Tuesday by the government to resolve the crisis.   Nearly 30 parties belonging to Federal Alliance did not turn up at the meeting called by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to address the demands made by those opposed to the constitution.   Though Oli had sent a formal request…

New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS). Four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed in a series of fires inside the T4 base last week, the images from intelligence company Stratfor suggest. The cause of the fires is unconfirmed. A pro-Kremlin website said…

At least 101 people were killed on Monday in two Syrian regime bastions in a spate of bombings claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.   Fifty-three people were killed in the city of Jableh and another 48 died in Tartus, further south, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.   Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said they were "without a doubt the…

Tehran:  India will invest billions of dollars in setting up industries - ranging from aluminum smelter to urea plants - in Iran's Chabahar free trade zone after it signed a pact to operate a strategic port on the Persian Gulf nation's southern coast. The inking of commercial contract to build and run the strategic port of Chabahar will help India gain a foothold in Iran and win access…

Bangkok:  India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400-kilometre long highway that will link India with Southeast Asia by land for the first time in decades, giving a boost to trade and cultural exchanges between the three countries. Indian Ambassador to Thailand Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi said 73 bridges in Myanmar, built more than seven decades ago during World War II, were being renovated…

Washington:  Business advocacy group USIBC has applauded the US House of Representative for approving pro-India amendments to a defence bill which would bolster bilateral defence ties on par with that of US' other NATO allies in terms of sale of weapons and technology transfer.   The amendment which institutionalises the US government's focus on the US-India security relationship,…

Beijing:  China today rebutted India's assertion that France was included in the Nuclear Suppliers Group without signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying France was a founder member of the elite group and so the issue of accepting its membership does not arise. Ahead of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit, China also called for "in-depth" talks to build consensus over India's…

The spiralling crisis surrounding the Zika virus is due to decades of policy failures on mosquito control and poor access to family planning services, the World Health Organization said on Monday. “The spread of Zika... (is) the price being paid for a massive policy failure that dropped the ball on mosquito control in the 1970s,” WHO chief Margaret Chan told the opening of the UN health…