US welcomes choice of new UN envoy for Syria
Washington: US Secretary of State John Kerry has welcomed the appointment of veteran diplomat Staffan de Mistura as the new UN special envoy for Syria. The top American envoy Thursday praised de Mistura as “a distinguished diplomat who brings a wealth of experience to this pressing crisis” in Syria from his work on Afghanistan, Iraq, lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia, Xinhua reported.
6 killed, 30 injured in bus accident in China
Beijing: Six persons were killed and 30 others injured when a passenger bus overturned on a highway in eastern China on Saturday. The bus turned on its side on Hangzhou-Huizhou highway when driving down a ramp while en route to Zhejiang Province’s capital Hangzhou from Anhui Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
18-Year-old Indian stabbed in Singapore
Singapore: An 18-year-old Indian was stabbed with a knife after he confronted two teens who had bullied his younger brother in Singapore. Baldwin luigi Singh, a nursing student, said he wanted to protect his younger brother from the bully who had threatened to beat up his brother.
3 Pak soldiers killed in Afghan terror attack
Islamabad: Afghan militants on Saturday killed at least three Pakistani soldiers in a predawn cross-border raid on a border post in the troubled northwestern tribal region. About 60 militants crossed over from Afghanistan and attacked the Pakistani army post in the Ghakhi area of the Bajur tribal region when the soldiers were having pre-dawn Ramadan meal before fasting.
Passenger train derails in China
Beijing: One coach of a passenger train derailed between cities of Changyang and Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province this morning, local railways authorities said. No casualties were reported.
China’s TV journalist taken by prosecutors
Beijing: A top business journalist at China’s state broadcaster was taken away by prosecutors, abruptly absent from his nightly newscast he was anchoring, China’s financial news magazine Caixin reported on Saturday.
Egypt reopens Rafah crossing for 2nd time
Cairo: Egypt on Saturday reopened for the second time the Rafah crossing border, Gaza’s only non-Israeli outlet to the outside world, to receive injured Palestinians and allow passing of food and medical supplies from the Arab countries into the war-torn Gaza strip.
Venezuela’s Maduro set to host Chinese prez
Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced that he would be welcoming Chinese president Xi Jinping for an official visit “in the next days.
13 Pak militants dead in Waziristan strikes
Islamabad: At least 13 militants were killed in air strikes on their hideouts in the ongoing military operation in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, the military said.