Section: Dunya TV (Pakistan)
Tennis: Nadal through to last eight in Rio
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Rafael Nadal won through to the quarter-finals of the clay-court event in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, beating compatriot Nicolas Almagro in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.The troubled Mallorcan is the top seed in what is his second tournament since being humbled in the first round of the Australian Open.Beaten in the...
Russia and Turkey run risk of escalation over Syria
MOSCOW (AFP) – Turkey and Russia are already waging a proxy war in Syria as Istanbul backs rebels against Syrian government troops supported by Moscow.But the recent escalation in rhetoric has sharpened fears of a direct confrontation, analysts warn.The two major players in the Syrian conflict have historic enmities dating back to the 16th...
Ukraine’s Poroshenko asks embattled PM to resign
KIEV (AFP) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to resign in the face of lost public trust in his ability to fight corruption and overcome a deep economic malaise.Poroshenkos dramatic intervention came as opinion polls showed growing public disenchantment with the pro-Western team that...
Tear gas clouds Kosovo’s independence anniversary
PRISTINA (AFP) – Eight years after ethnic Albanians joyously declared Kosovos independence from Serbia, chaotic scenes of MPs releasing tear gas in their parliament hardly give the impression of a successfully functioning state.But Albin Kurti, an opposition deputy and ringleader of the recent dramatic protests, says such radical measures...
Obama urges Putin to end air strikes against Syrian opposition
RANCHO MIRAGE (AFP) – US President Barack Obama has urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end air strikes against Syrian opposition forces, the White House said Sunday.In a phone call with Putin Saturday, Obama stressed the need to quickly get humanitarian aid to besieged areas and initiating the cessation of hostilities across...
Libyans intercept suspected fuel-smuggling ship
TRIPOLI (AFP) – The Libyan coastguard on Saturday intercepted a ship with a 12-man foreign crew that it said was smuggling diesel and escorted it to the marine base in Tripoli.The coastguard was conducting a reconnaissance mission when it intercepted the tanker carrying about 1.66 million litres of diesel, coastguard official Abu Ajila told...
Turkey strikes Kurds in Syria, mulls ground attack with Saudi
BEIRUT (AFP) – Turkish artillery on Saturday shelled areas of Aleppo province in northern Syria held by Kurdish forces, a monitor said, as Ankara said it could launch a ground assault alongside Saudi troops.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish artillery struck areas of Aleppo, including Minnigh airbase recently taken by the...
World has slipped into ‘new Cold War’: Russian PM
MUNICH (AFP) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday that strains between Russia and the West have plunged the world into a new Cold War.With tensions high over the lingering Ukraine conflict and Russias backing of the Syrian regime, Medvedev said: All thats left is an unfriendly policy of NATO against Russia.We can say it...
Ukraine reporter receives death threat over corruption investigation
KIEV (AFP) – A well-known Ukrainian reporter said Friday she had received a death threat after publishing an investigation into a gas company controlled by a relative of a former minister.Kristina Berdynskykh, a reporter with pro-Western Ukraines independent weekly Novoye Vremya, received an anonymous text message which said she risked...
Tennis: Bencic to face Kasatkina in St Petersburg semis
SAINT PETERSBURG (AFP) – Top seed Belinda Bencic battled from a set down to claim a semi-final spot at the St. Petersburg Open on Friday, beating Russias Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-7 (7/4), 6-4, 6-2.The 18-year-old Swiss, ranked 11th in the world, won in two hours and 32 minutes to record her second win over Pavlyuchenkova in three...
