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Two civilians were martyred when their motorcycle hit a land mine planted in Ardaan area of Dera Bugti district on Tuesday.According to police sources, another civilian was injured in the incident. The injured was shifted to a nearby hospital for treat...

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN � They won only once at the Asian Women's Rugby Sevens in Laos last weekend but for the Pakistan women it was a dream debut at an international event.

"That's a big deal that women are playing rugby," player Mehru Khan said. "And secondly, that we are getting a platform to come and perform to represent our country."

Men's cricket is the only sport to get recognition in this country of 200 million people. Religious and cultural barriers make it difficult for women to receive due encouragement to take up sports, more so for a contact sport like rugby.

But World Rugby's "Get into Rugby" program has in the last three years attracted 50,000 people, more than a third of them females, according to the Pakistan Rugby Union.

A year ago, when the union wanted to form a women's sevens team, it targeted school teachers and students and received a good response.

In the seven-team Asian Women's Rugby Sevens, Pakistan beat only Nepal. But it was a start.

"In Pakistan, opting for a sport like rugby, this is like out of the mould for our society," player Feiza Mahmood Mirza said.

"We are making change. We are the one(s) who are going to be the inspiration for other girls."

The sevens coach, Shakeel Ahmed, said they hope to draw 10,000 more females into the sport by 2019. To that end, the union has signed contracts with the Army, police, and schools in various cities to encourage participation.

"We are very keen to make a good woman rugby culture in Pakistan," she said.

Rugby was introduced to Pakistan in the 1920s by British expatriates and almost died out in the 80s as British influence waned. But locals and embassy workers revived the sport and started a league, and the union was founded in 2000.

Women still face hurdles to play sports, let alone rugby, such as discouraging families, and a lack of government funding for facilities.

But Mehru, who began playing rugby while she was studying in Canada, believed the sport could play a big role in empowering women in Pakistan.

"I hope women in Pakistan look to me and think, If she can do it, I can do it,"' Mehru said.

"I will go back and I will create a club in Lahore for girls. I will go to their houses and call them and play rugby because I don't want them to feel they are less than us, or than the boys, or anyone. They should come, and they should join, and they should have fun."

Source: Voice of America

YANGON, MYANMAR � Two members of Myanmar's security forces were injured in a clash with militants on the troubled Rakhine State border with Bangladesh, Myanmar state counselor's office said, casting doubt on the government's claim that the region had stabilized.

The government last week said the situation in northern Rakhine had stabilized and that it had ended a four-month security crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

The security operation had been under way since nine policemen were killed in attacks on security posts near the Bangladesh border October 9. Almost 69,000 Rohingyas have since fled to Bangladesh, according to U.N. estimates.

The United Nations has said the security crackdown may amount to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

Border clash

Two soldiers were wounded in a five-minute clash with an armed group on the border with Bangladesh Friday afternoon, the State Counselor's said in a statement late Saturday.

The forces providing security forces to workers preparing border fence between the Mile Post 56 and 57 in Buthidaung township were attacked by about 30 unidentified armed men in black uniforms positioned on hills in Bangladeshi side, the statement said, adding the armed men withdrew after security forces returned fire.

The security forces were still gathering information to identify how many members from the armed group were injured or killed during the clash, the office said in the short statement.

Bangladesh border guards could not immediately be contacted. Myanmar State Counselor's Office and military did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

October attacks

Myanmar's government blamed Rohingyas supported by foreign militants for the October 9 attacks on police, but has issued scant information about the assailants it called terrorists.

A group of Rohingya Muslims involved in the October attacks is headed by people with links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the International Crisis Group said in a report last year.

The government, led Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has denied almost all allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine, including mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims, and said the operation was a lawful counterinsurgency campaign.

The violence has renewed international criticism that the Myanmar leader has done too little to help members of the Muslim minority, many of whom live in apartheid-like conditions in northwestern Myanmar.

Rohingya Muslims have faced discrimination in Myanmar for generations. They are regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and many entitled only to limited rights.

Source: Voice of America

Pakistan has closed its border with Afghanistan, fired a barrage of artillery into its neighbor's territory and staged a major domestic crackdown on militant groups, reportedly killing more than 100 suspects, in response to the deadliest terror attack ...

WASHINGTON � With the Trump administration still stitching together its foreign policy, priorities and staff, Russia seems intent on expanding its once-shrunken sphere of influence by exploiting gaps in America's overseas presence.

It's been a globe-spanning effort, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin using muscle in places like Ukraine and Syria and offering sweeteners to potential allies that he hopes will pay off later. The focus is on countries that have shaky ties with Washington, are strategically located or have abundant natural resources.

A key issue is how Putin's relationship with new President Donald Trump will pan out. Can two cocky personalities truly be allies against common foes like Islamic State, which could usher in a new era of cooperation? Are the distrust and animosity that festered during the Cold War too much to overcome? And will there be long-term fallout over Russia's efforts to bolster Trump's election campaign?

Russia's influence, which rivaled that of the United States during the Cold War, faded dramatically after the fall of communism and the breakup of the vast Soviet Union. But under Putin, it has sought to re-establish itself in an effort that has stretched from the North Sea to Antarctica.

In its latest initiative, Russia seeks to transform itself from an erstwhile warmonger in Afghanistan, during its failed decade-long invasion, into a peacemaker.

On Wednesday, Moscow hosted a second-round of peace talks on the resource-rich country. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India and China were invited. The United States was conspicuously left out, despite its ongoing military intervention to repel Islamic terrorists and put Afghanistan solidly on the road to stability.

Common enemies

Afghanistan watchers in the region say Moscow wants to play a more active role closer to home after its actions in Syria.

"Russia has created a role for itself in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, and has carried out effective operations against Daesh [Islamic State]," said Rahimullah Yousafzai, a noted Pakistani journalist who has written extensively on Afghanistan and the Taliban.

"Russia will definitely be part of negotiations for peace or cease-fire" in Syria, Yousafzai told Voice of America's Deewa Pashto service. "Now it seems Russia wants to be included in any consultations in the neighborhood, and they seem to have been successful to a great extent."

The United States, China and Russia have interests in Afghanistan, some of which might pit them against one another. But Yousafzai said fighting against Islamic State could potentially be a common cause.

"I think they can be each other's allies in the fight against Daesh," Yousafzai said, using a common Arabic name for the group.

Controversial friends

However, Russia has forged ties with Afghanistan's rebel Taliban movement, seeing them as an ally against Islamic State, and that has put it at odds with Washington. Moscow claims it's just trying to foster peace; the U.S. says Russia's aid is helping the Taliban to wage its war against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

Russia's intervention in Afghanistan may be driven in large part by its desire to stop the spread of Islamist extremism through the Muslim Central Asian states and the flow of narcotics from poppy-producing Afghanistan, said Sami Yousafzai, an Afghan correspondent who has been reporting for several international media organizations.

But the landlocked country also is strategically located, which was a major factor in Russia's 1979 invasion.

Cozying up to Moscow might not yield the Taliban the benefits of international legitimacy or consideration as a political force within Afghanistan because Russia does not have a very influential global role and has angered many Sunni-Muslim states in the Middle East with its support for Shi'ite Iran, said Sami Yousafzai, who is not related to Rahimullah Yousafzai.

"If Taliban want to be recognized as a political power at the international level, if they want to have a political stand, they need to have backing by the U.S. and NATO," he said.

Broad interests

The interest in Afghanistan only scratches the surface of Moscow's interest and mirrors China's aggressive efforts to build up its presence in the South China Sea. Some see the possibility of limited cooperation between Moscow and Beijing to counterbalance U.S. influence. Both have been taking advantage of a relatively hands-off approach to foreign policy in some areas under former President Barack Obama.

Russia has been accused of political meddling across the Balkans, reportedly countering U.S. interests to the point of disruption.

Moscow donated weapons and other military hardware a year ago to the Pacific nation of Fiji, which has been developing new allies after being isolated by sanctions for its military coup in 2006.

"It strikes me that we could see, in 10 or 15 years, regular visits by Russian naval ships to Suva," Paul Buchanan, director of 36th Parallel Security Assessments, told The Guardian. "And perhaps in 20 years, China and/or Russian being granted forward basing rights in Fiji."

Russia also has been cultivating a relationship with Libya, which could lead to cooperation with Washington or could develop into a point of conflict. And Moscow has been bolstering its presence as far away as Antarctica, which is believed to have vast stores of natural resources, while pursuing interests in the Arctic as the melting icecap provides access to previously blocked areas.

Source: Voice of America

Wrapped up in grey blankets, migrant boys, some as young as 10, warm themselves by a fire in a large, abandoned warehouse near the main railway station in Serbia's capital Belgrade.Hungry, destitute and cold, they are often visited by Serbian men who o...

Cairo (IINA) � UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said there is no option other than a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and efforts to reach it should be preserved, AFP reported.

Guterres's comments came after he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in Cairo on Wednesday, and a day after a senior White House official said the United States would not insist on a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Later, in a speech at Cairo University, the UN chief said the Israeli-Palestinian problem was the "mother" of regional conflicts, adding: "There is no Plan B than a two-state solution."

The White House official's comments came ahead of talks between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later Wednesday in Washington.

Source: International Islamic News Agency