AFGHAN TALIBAN LEADERS DECLARE A HALT TO BOMBINGS IN CIVILIAN AREAS

KABUL: Taliban insurgents are refraining from attacking Afghan civilians for the first time in many years. The change in tactics started after a Taliban cease-fire expired June 17 and came after a six-month period that the United Nations said had been the deadliest yet for Afghan civilians. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location that the insurgents had been ordered to stop suicide attacks in cities that might cause civilian casualties. A deputy spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani noted the shift. “We can see a change in their ranks,” said the spokesman, Shah Hussain Murtazawi. “There are fewer suicide attacks in the cities now, but it is not the end of suicide attacks.”

Air strikes kill 12 civilians in south Syria rebel holdout

BEIRUT: Unidentified air strikes have killed 12 civilians in a rebelheld pocket of southern Syria as regime ally Russia presses talks for Damascus to retake the area, a monitor said on Wednesday. The deadly strikes hit Nawa, the last town under rebel control in the southern province of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitor said it could not determine whether the strikes on the town in the west of the province were carried out by the regime or its Russian ally. The regime has in less than a month retaken more than 90 per cent of Daraa province, which borders Jordan and was the cradle of Syria’s ill-fated 2011 uprising.

After 2year purge, Turkey to end state of emergency

ISTANBUL : Turkey’s state of emergency which was imposed after the failed 2016 coup is to end on Wednesday but the opposition fears it will be replaced by even more repressive legislative measures. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the state of emergency on July 20, 2016, five days after warplanes bombed Ankara and bloody clashes broke out in a doomed putsch bid that claimed 249 lives.

At least 19 drown in refugee boat sinking off Cyprus

NICOSIA: At least 19 refugees drowned and up to 30 were missing on Wednesday after their boat sank in the Mediterranean off the north of Cyprus, local security forces said. The boat was carrying 150 people when it went down off the coast of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot-controlled portion of the island, which is only recognised by Ankara. Over 100 people were rescued in a joint operation by Turkish Cypriot and Turkish coastguards after the boat sank off the village of Gialousa (Yeni Erenkoy in Turkish) on the panhandle Karpas peninsula.

Brazilian celebrity surgeon on the run after patient dies

RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian celebrity butt-enhancement surgeon called Dr Bumbum has gone on the run following the death of a patient just hours after undergoing cosmetic surgery at his home in Rio de Janeiro. Denis Furtado was considered capable of performing magic on women’s bodies, in particular their bottoms, and became known throughout the country for his expertise. The 45-year-old’s Instagram account belies his popularity with 650,000 followers.