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South Asia
Over 250 inmates escape from central jail in Pakistan after armed Taliban’s attack
Prison guards said Tuesday that they were totally overwhelmed when around 150 heavily armed Taliban fighters staged a late-night attack on their jail in northwest Pakistan, freeing over 250 prisoners including over three dozen suspected militants. It was the second such attack by the Taliban on a prison in the…
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West Asia
Israel-Palestine negotiators shake hands as peace talks resume in Washington
Why does it matter? Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would remove a major source of instability in the Middle East, reduce the risk of war there and improve U.S. ties with the Arab and Muslim world. A peace deal, to be endorsed by 57 Muslim and Arab nations, would end Israel’s…
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West Asia
Tunisian PM rejects demands to step down and promises to hold election in December
In a defiant speech, Tunisia’s prime minister rejected opposition demands that his government step down and promised on Monday to complete the country’s democratic transition with a new constitution by August and elections in December. The assassination of two opposition legislators over the last six months has plunged Tunisia –…
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West Asia
63 killed in series of deadliest atacks in Baghdad including 17 car bombings
A wave of violence, including 17 car bombings hitting Iraqi cities, killed up to 63 people and wounded some 224, amid growing tension that pushed UN envoy to Iraq to call for immediate government actions to stop the violence to avoid slipping the country back into sectarian strife. The deadliest…
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West Asia
Israel-Palestine resume peace talks in Washington on July 29, US says
The Israelis and the Palestinians are set to resume their peace talks in Washington D.C. on Monday, the U.S. State Department said on Sunday. Secretary of State John Kerry extended his invitation to both sides in his phone talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,…
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West Asia
Kuwait’s conservative Sunni tribes smile at July 27 parliamentary election results
Kuwait’s conservative Sunni tribes made gains in parliamentary elections while liberals reclaimed a foothold in the Gulf region’s most politically powerful elected body, according to results Sunday after voting forced by the ongoing political upheavals in the oil-rich nation. The outcome from Saturday’s election still leaves the 50-seat parliament in…
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West Asia
Israel agrees to free 104 Palestinian prisoners for resumption of peace talk
Israel’s Cabinet approved the release of 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners Sunday, clearing a hurdle toward a possible resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after five years of paralysis. The prisoner release is part of a push by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bring the two sides back to the…
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South Asia
People gather at train derailment scene in eastern Pakistan, at least 3 dead
People gather at a derailed train in eastern Pakistan’s Gujranwala on July 25, 2013. At least three people were killed and several others injured when a train derailed here on Thursday, local media reported. <Xinhua/NEWSis/Stringer> Rescuers remove a body from the train accident site in eastern Pakistan’s Gujranwala on July…
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West Asia
The number of people dead in Syria’s civil war passes 100,000, UN chief says
The number of dead in Syria’s civil war has passed 100,000, the U.N. chief said Thursday, calling for urgent talks on ending 2{ years of violence even as President Bashar Assad’s government blasted the United States as an unsuitable peace broker. In the latest example of the relentless carnage, a…
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South Asia
Tracing history of Buddhism in Sindh
I had always found myself very close to Buddhism. May be it was because we Sindhis (natives of Sindh, the land of great Indus civilization, now a province of Pakistan) are by nature Sufis (Mysticism) believing in inter-faith harmony, brotherhood, non-violence and wishing best for progress and prosperity of the…
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