AFP, DAMASCUS: Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad acknowledged the shrinking ranks of his government’s army in a rare public speech yesterday, but insisted the force was still capable of beating rebel fighters. Speaking in Damascus, Assad also said any bid to end the conflict that was not…

AFP, MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistani officials yesterday accused Indian troops of killing a civilian in “unprovoked firing” in the disputed Kashmir region. India and Pakistan often accuse each other of violating a 2003 ceasefire agreement. The two countries have fought three wars, two of them over…

AFP, BEIJING: A total of 14 members of a Chinese religious cult have been jailed for up to three years, state media said yesterday, the latest sentences after two members were executed this year for killing a woman. Nine members of the banned Quannengshen group were convicted of “undermining the…

AFP, NEW DELHI: A Bollywood superstar and a former senior judge on Sunday urged India’s top court to consider sparing the life of a convicted bomb plotter due to be hanged this week. The Supreme Court is expected on Monday to hear a last-ditch appeal from Yakub Memon, a key plotter of a series…

AFP, BAGHDAD: Iraqi government forces recaptured a university campus Sunday on the outskirts of Ramadi from the Islamic State group, seizing a key position for any offensive to retake the city, officials said. Iraqi forces had recaptured parts of Anbar University in May, shortly after losing the provincial…

Egypt prolongs Sinai emergency rule, bomb wounds 18 AFP, CAIRO: Egypt extended a state of emergency in parts of the Sinai Peninsula for three months, as a roadside bomb wounded 18 policemen yestreday in the insurgency-wracked region, security officials said. The attack happened near El-Arish, the capital…