Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to build 3,500 new settler homes in a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, just a week before a tight general election.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to build 3,500 new settler homes in a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, just a week before a tight general election. "I gave immediate instructions for a permit to deposit (plans) for the construction of 3,500 units in E1," Netanyahu said. Also Read: Netanyahu withdraws bid for immunity from corruption prosecution The international community has warned repeatedly that Jewish settlement construction in the E1 corridor would cut the West Bank in two and compromise the contiguity of a future Palestinian state. "We are building Jerusalem and Jerusalem's outskirts," Netanyahu said at a conference in remarks relayed by a spokesman. In 2013, Netanyahu had vetoed construction in the E1 corridor in the face of UN, EU and US pressure. Watch: Today Tonight: Donald Trump welcomes Benjamin Netanyahu | WION News | World News The move to advance new homes, which would constitute a new neighbourhood of Maale Adumim, a nearby settlement town, was praised by the Yesha Council, a settler lobby group, which noted that plans for homes there have existed since 2004. "Advancing the issue will enable broad and strategic construction between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem," Yesha Council head David Elhayani said in a statement. On Thursday, Netanyahu announced plans for thousands of new homes for Israelis in annexed east Jerusalem, with critics calling the move a last-minute gift to nationalist supporters ahead of a March 2 general election.

Netanyahu pledges new settler homes in West Bank corridor

A high-profile local Taliban figure who announced and justified the 2012 attack on teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has escaped detention, Pakistan's interior minister confirmed a few days after the militant announced his breakout on social media.

A high-profile local Taliban figure who announced and justified the 2012 attack on teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has escaped detention, Pakistan's interior minister confirmed a few days after the militant announced his breakout on social media. Former Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, who claimed responsibility on behalf of his group for scores of Taliban attacks, proclaimed his escape on Twitter and then in an audio message sent to Pakistani media earlier this month. The Pakistani military, which had kept Ehsan in detention for three years, has declined to comment but, asked by reporters about the report, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, said: "That is correct, that is correct." Also Read: Taliban leader Ehsanullah Ehsan escapes Pakistan's jail Shah, a retired brigadier general, added that "you will hear good news" in response to questions about whether they had progressed in hunting down Ehsan. Ehsan later told reporters that he had already left Pakistan and arrived in Turkey together with his wife and children. He said he had surrendered to the army under a deal, and escaped only after the agreement was not honoured. He said he escaped on January 11 but did not clarify how he had broken out of a maximum-security military prison and made his way to another country. Watch: Pakistan Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan Pakistani analysts and experts on militant Islam have voiced doubt about Ehsan's claim to have escaped. They have speculated that he may have been converted into an asset by the state and that reports he was on the run could be a ruse to plant him back in the Islamist militant scene for use as an informant. After Ehsan's surrender in 2017, local Geo News TV aired an interview he gave in custody in which he asserted that the intelligence services of Pakistan's arch-rival, India, had been funding and arming Pakistani Taliban fighters. The Pakistan army pledged to put Ehsan on trial but has not done so. Taliban attacks in Pakistan have declined in recent months since the army carried out several operations against sanctuaries used by the Islamist militant groups in lawless districts along the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan confirms escape of Taliban leader who justified Malala shooting

A policeman was killed and two others wounded Tuesday by a roadside bomb aimed at polio vaccination workers in Pakistan's restive northwest, officials said. The attack came a day after Islamabad launched a nationwide anti-polio drive, aiming to immunise tens of millions of children in Pakistan - one of only three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where the crippling disease remains endemic.

A policeman was killed and two others wounded Tuesday by a roadside bomb aimed at polio vaccination workers in Pakistan's restive northwest, officials said. The attack came a day after Islamabad launched a nationwide anti-polio drive, aiming to immunise tens of millions of children in Pakistan - one of only three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where the crippling disease remains endemic. Opposition to inoculations grew after the CIA organised a fake vaccination drive to help track down Al-Qaeda's former leader Osama Bin Laden in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. According to Captain Wahid Mehmood, a district police chief, a police van monitoring the polio team was hit on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan. "It was an IED (improvised explosive device) explosion in which one of our policemen got martyred while two others were wounded", Mehmood told reporters. Also Read: Pakistan approaches international community over Kashmir but commits genocide in Balochistan: Baloch leader adaqat Khan, a local police official, confirmed the toll. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban and other militants have targeted polio vaccinators in the past. The nationwide polio vaccination campaign aims to vaccinate some 39 million children. Tuesday's attack follows a devastating year in Pakistan's long fight against polio, with at least 17 cases reported in 2020 so far. In 2019, the number of polio cases jumped to 144 from just 12 in 2018. Even as Pakistan has tried to eliminate polio, a new challenge has emerged in the form of a growing global movement against vaccinations. The phenomenon has attracted adherents worldwide, fuelled by medically baseless claims and proliferated on social media resulting in a resurgence of once-eradicated, highly contagious diseases.

Pakistan policeman killed as blast hits polio vaccine team

Nepal on Sunday evacuated 175 of its nationals from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak, an official said, after protests by parents of students studying in the city.

Nepal on Sunday evacuated 175 of its nationals from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak, an official said, after protests by parents of students studying in the city. A plane operated by state-owned Nepal Airlines carrying 134 men and 41 women, mostly students, landed at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport before dawn, Health Ministry spokesman Mahendra Shrestha said. All evacuees will be held in quarantine for two weeks in the nearby town of Bhaktapur. "They will be under the close observation of doctors in quarantine and will be allowed to join their families if found healthy after two weeks," Shrestha added. [ Officials in protective suits prepare to evacuate 175 Nepalese nationals from a Nepal Airlines Airbus A330-200 plane (Courtesy: Reuters) ] Also Read: Screening passengers at airports, Nepal border also under check: Health Minister on coronavirus Last week parents protested in front of the Health Ministry demanding that Nepali students in Wuhan be brought home sooner. The government said delays were due to the time needed to prepare buildings to keep the returnees in quarantine. Nepal has only one confirmed case of coronavirus so far.

Nepali nationals and students evacuated from Wuhan after parents protested

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Netanyahu pledges new settler homes in West Bank corridor

Pakistan confirms escape of Taliban leader who justified Malala shooting

Pakistan policeman killed as blast hits polio vaccine team

Nepali nationals and students evacuated from Wuhan after parents protested