SYRIAN GOVERNMENT RAISES ITS FLAG OVER DARAA, THE CRADLE OF 2011 REVOLT

BEIRUT: For the first time in more than seven years, the Syrian government on Thursday raised its flag over Daraa, the first city to revolt against President Bashar al-assad in 2011 and plunge the country into its calamitous civil war. The display is laden with symbolism as the government moves to stamp out the last of the uprising against the 52-year-old Assad who has ruled with an iron fist over Syria for 18 years. Officials accompanied by state media crews hoisted the two-star flag over the rubble of the city’s main square, allowing it to wave in sight of the shell of the Omari Mosque where protesters first gathered in demonstrations demanding reforms then Assad’s ouster in the spring of 2011.

Russia, China, Iran, Pak discuss threat from IS

NEW DELHI: The heads of the intelligence services of Russia, Iran, China, and Pakistan held a meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss the measures against the threat by Islamic State militants in Afghanistan TASS news agency reported. “The discussions focused on the dangers arising from a buildup of IS on Afghan territory,” Sergei Ivanov, the chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s press bureau said.

New Zealand: Firstever colour Xray on a human

PARIS: New Zealand scientists have performed the first-ever 3-D, colour X-ray on a human, using a technique that promises to improve the field of medical diagnostics, said Europe’s CERN physics lab which contributed imaging technology. The new device, based on the traditional black-and-white X-ray, incorporates particle-tracking technology developed for CERN’S Large Hadron Collider.

AP

Greece: Russian diplomats expelled for ‘protest’ money

THESSALONIKI: Greece moved to expel two Russian diplomats and to block two others from entering Thursday after authorities learned that clergy and other organizations allegedly received Russian money to oppose a deal to end Greece’s longstanding name dispute with neighboring Macedonia, a Greek official said Thursday. Russian authorities have been given until Friday to get the two diplomats already in Greece out of the country. AP

N Korea for talks to discuss US soldiers’ remains

SEOUL: After failing to show for expected talks with American officials on Thursday, North Korea called for general-level military negotiations to discuss the return of the remains of US soldiers killed in the 1950-1953 Korean War, Yonhap news agency reported. Citing an unidentified South Korean official, Yonhap reported that the North Koreans want to speak with a US general, possibly as early as Sunday. REUTERS