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US diplomat Bill Richardson was accused on Thursday of a "personal attack" on Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi after an excoriating take down of the former darling of the global rights community as he resigned from a panel on the Rohingya crisis. Richardson, a one-time Suu Kyi ally, was one of five foreign members hand picked by Myanmar's civilian leader to serve on the committee. But after a three-day visit to Myanmar, Richardson struck out at his hosts, saying he could not in "good conscience" sit on a panel he feared would only "whitewash" the causes of the Rohingya crisis. He lambasted Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi for an "absence of moral l eadership" over Rakhine and described her "furious response" to his calls to free two Reuters journalists arrested while covering the crisis. A Myanmar government spokesman hit back on Thursday, accusing the former New Mexico Governor Richardson of over-stepping th...

WASHINGTON: After Turkey assaulted a relatively peaceful Kurdish enclave of northern Syria, regional leaders fear the world will abandon them even though they provided the ground troops who beat the militant Islamic State group. For the past four days, Turkish troops and allied Arab Islamist fighters have been battling their way into Syria’s Afrin canton, which is defended by the American-backed Kurdish YPG militia. US leaders, including President Donald Trump, have appealed for restraint, but appear to have little influence over their Nato ally when it comes to its battle against the Kurds. Now the Kurds, whose unofficial national motto admits they have “no friends but the mountains”, fear they will be the forgotten victims as Turkey, Russia and the United States manoeuvre for influence. And this despite providing the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who gifted Trump his first military victory — the fall of the IS capital, Raqa. Sinam ...

Pakistan have defeated New Zealand by 48 runs in the second Twenty20 against New Zealand at Auckland's Eden Park on Thursday. The Kiwis never quite settled on the pitch as they lost six of their wickets in quick succession after being set a daunting target of 202 runs. Faheem Ashraf yielded three wickets, while Shadab Khan and Mohammad Amir scored two wickets each Hasan Ali and Rumman Raees each have one wicket to their names. The hosts were rattled from the get-go as opener Colin Munro departed for the pavilion with just one run to his name very early in the inning. His successor, captain Kane Williamson left the pitch soon after without scoring any runs. Bruce was run out by Harris Sohail at 11 runs and Martin Guptill who was holding fort also departed for 26 runs when he was caught by Umar Amin during Shadab's over. Colin de Grandhomme scored 10 runs before falling victim to Shadab while Glenn Phillips only managed 5 runs. Hasan Ali bowled Ben Wheele...

The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned television anchor Shahid Masood to provide clarity on revelations he made during a late night show regarding the suspect in the rape and murder case of six-year-old Zainab Amin and other children in Kasur. Masood, in his show, had alleged that Zainab's suspected rapist and murderer was a member of a pornography gang which also includes a Punjab minister. Masood and Punjab additional advocate general Asma Hamid were both present in court during Thursday's hearing. Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar advised the anchorperson to write down the names of the provincial minister and another high-up he had mentioned during his show. Masood complied and handed over the names written on a piece of paper to the CJP.  The court asked Masood to provide details regarding the evidence he had, to which the television personality said he had submitted the details of the suspect's 37 bank accounts to the court. ...