Indian police have rescued hundreds of child slaves as young as six during days of raids on workshops in the central city of Hyderabad, a senior officer said Friday. Police discovered 120 children -- some of them sick, underweight and traumatised -- during raids on workshops that make bangles and other goods late on Thursday, as part of a city-wide crackdown on child slavery.

Truce talks between Ukraine's government and pro-Russian insurgents appeared to collapse yesterday after 24 people, mostly civilians, were reported killed in heavy weapons fire in eastern Ukraine, prompting new European criticism of Russia. Plans for the talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk were announced on Thursday, raising hopes of dialogue amid the collapse of a September truce in a war that has killed at least 5,100 people, according to the United Nations.

In a major setback to India's main opposition party Congress, former Environment Minister and senior leader Jayanthi Natarajan has decided to quit the party while making a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi and accusing him of sending "specific requests" on environmental clearances for projects. In a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Natarajan stated she received “specific requests” from Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on environmental clearances and she consequently rejected big-ticket projects despite pressure from Cabinet colleagues seeking approval.

South African apartheid-era death squad commander Eugene de Kock has been granted parole after 20 years in jail. He was nicknamed "Prime Evil" for his role in the killing and maiming of activists fighting white minority rule in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Turkey is ready to "pay the price" if found guilty of the mass killings of Armenians a century ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. In a live interview with state-run TRT channel on Thursday, Erdogan said his country would take the necessary steps if historians conclude that it was at fault for the World War I-era massacres that Armenians say amounted to genocide.

Israel yesterday published tenders to build 450 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, a watchdog said, in a plan denounced by the Palestinians as a "war crime". Settlements watchdog Peace Now tied the move to Israel's March 17 general election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud is competing with other rightwing parties for the settler vote.

Efforts to improve ties with Cuba will not extend to handing control of Guantanamo Bay back to Havana, the White House said on Thursday. "The president does believe that the prison at Guantanamo Bay should be closed down," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "But the naval base is not something that we wish to be closed."

Saudi Arabia's new King Salman has tightened his hold on power, firing two sons of his predecessor and replacing the heads of intelligence and other key agencies in a sweeping shakeup. The appointments, which analysts said supported signs the kingdom will chart a steady course on foreign and oil policy, came a week after Salman, 79, took the throne following the death of King Abdullah.

Jordan's military said yesterday that it was still awaiting proof that a warplane pilot threatened with execution by the Islamic State group is safe. IS had vowed to kill F-16 airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh by sunset on Thursday unless Amman handed over an Iraqi female jihadist in return for captured Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

Traumatised relatives of those aboard missing flight MH370 yesterday blasted the Malaysian government for declaring the passengers and crew dead without evidence of the plane's fate, and rejected compensation offers. Malaysian authorities a day earlier had said they were now classifying the unexplained disappearance of the plane as an "accident".

The Christian community of the country, as elsewhere across the world, is celebrating Christmas today, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain yesterday pledged to announce an incentive package for the ailing real estate sector shortly.

The youth should empower themselves with the right skills to meet the demand from local industries and tap international opportunities, said experts at a seminar yesterday.

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