13,000 families flee Iraq’s Fallujah
Fallujah(Iraq): More than 13,000 families have fled Fallujah, NGOs said on Wednesday, warning of a “critical” humanitarian situation as masked gunmen locked in a days long standoff with Iraqi troops hold the city.
French court upholds burqa ban
France: A French court on Wednesday convicted a young woman for wearing a full-face Islamic veil in public and threw out her bid to have the country’s controversial burqa ban declared unconstitutional.
NY cops among 106 accused over 9/11 fraud
New York: Prosecutors indicted 106 people, including former New York police officers and firefighters, over a “massive fraud” worth hundreds of millions of dollars, some in connection with the September 11 attacks.
B’deshi lawmakers
to take oath today
Dhaka: The 290 newly elected Bangladeshi lawmakers will be sworn in on Thursday after Awami league bagged a three-fourths majority in the polls, marred by clashes, low turnout and an Opposition boycott.
North Korea to hold
election in March
Seoul: North Korea announced elections to its rubber-stamp Parliament in March, the first under leader Kim Jong-Un as he seeks to cement his grip on power after purging his uncle.
‘No truce in S Sudan unless allies freed’
Addis Ababa: South Sudan’s rebels indicated that there would be no imminent truce in the country unless the Government freed a group of suspected rebels currently being detained.
Syria rebels seize al Qaeda base in Aleppo
Beirut: Syrian rebels seized control of a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo that was used as a base for the area by their al Qaeda rivals, activists said.
Iran optimistic on eve of n-deal talks
Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was optimistic about a landmark nuclear agreement with world powers, saying negotiations
were progressing amid
“strong political will”.