MOSCOW: Russian forces have captured two more villages in east Ukraine, including one just a few kilometers from Pokrovsk, a key supply hub for Kyiv’s forces, the defense ministry said Monday. Army units “liberated” Shevchenko and Novoyegorivka in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk respectively, it said. Shevchenko is around three kilometers (two miles) from Pokrovsk ..read more

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned authorities on Monday against neglecting their duties related to this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, instructing them to provide the best possible facilities to pilgrims. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Hajj agreement 2025 this month, according to which 179,210 pilgrims from the South Asian country would perform the annual pilgrimage in 2025. The quota for pilgrims is divided equally between government and private schemes.  ..read more

KOLKATA: An Indian court awarded the life sentence on Monday to a police volunteer convicted of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the hospital where she worked in the eastern city of Kolkata. The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Aug. 9. Other doctors stayed off work for weeks to demand justice for her and better security at public hospitals, as the crime sparked national outrage over a lack of safety for women ..read more

DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militia have signaled they will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships as a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took hold. The Houthis made the announcement in an email sent to shippers and others on Sunday. The Houthis separately planned a military statement on Monday, likely about the decision. The Houthis, through their Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, made the announcement by saying it was “stopping sanctions” on the other vessels it has previously targeted since it started attacks in November 2023 ..read more

LONDON: The trial of a teenager accused of killing three young girls in a stabbing spree last year that sparked the UK’s most violent riots in a decade is set to begin Monday. Axel Rudakubana, 18, is due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court, accused of murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year in Southport, northwest England. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed in the attack in the seaside resort near Liverpool on July 29, 2024 ..read more

DAMASCUS: The mother of US journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, said on Monday in Damascus that the war-torn country's new leadership was committed to finding him.Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy News, The Washington Post, CBS and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012."I have been privileged to meet with the new leadership of Syria," Debra Tice told journalists in Damascus, after holding talks with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa ..read more

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has left for Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit where he will meet political, trade and business leaders from various countries and officials of international organizations, state-run media reported on Monday.  ..read more

PARIS: France will keep fighting to obtain the release of the two French-Israeli nationals held by Hamas, foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot told BFM TV on Monday. “We will continue to fight until the last hour for their release,” Barrot told BFM TV, adding France had “no news on their health status nor on the terms of their detention.” Hamas released three Israeli hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, on the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East ..read more

BEJING: China on Monday hailed the start of a long-awaited truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in Gaza. A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas formally entered into force on Sunday, paving the way for the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages. A spokeswoman for Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China welcomes the Gaza ceasefire agreement coming into effect ..read more

BEIJING: The Myanmar military and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) signed a formal agreement for a ceasefire that began on Saturday, China’s foreign ministry said, halting fighting near the border of both countries. The two sides held talks in China’s southwestern city of Kunming where they thanked Beijing for its efforts to promote peace, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular news briefing on Monday ..read more