DAMASCUS, May 11 (Xinhua): Heavy airstrikes and shelling targeted rebel positions in the northern countryside of Hama province and the nearby countryside of Idlib province on Saturday as part of an ongoing Russian-backed campaign, a war monitor reported.

The Russian and Syrian warplanes started the 12th day of escalation with airstrikes and ground shelling on rebel positions in northern Hama and the southern countryside of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based watchdog group said that the airstrikes renewed after midnight Saturday.

TASS, May 11: The Altai rescue vessel, an Ilyushin Il-38 aircraft and a Kamov Ka-27PS helicopter from Russia’s Northern Fleet will participate in a joint Russia-Norway maritime rescue exercise scheduled to take place in the Barents Sea on May 28-29, the Fleet’s press service said in a statement on Saturday.

Patiala, May 10 (PTI) Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targeting the Congress and the Gandhi family over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said what if someone linked the PM with the 2002 riots in Gujarat's Godhra.

"It is wrong of Modi to connect (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi with the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. What if someone starts linking Modi with Godhra," he told reporters here.

Singh said it did not behove the prime minister of the country to "stoop" to such levels for winning elections.

GENEVA, May 10 (Xinhua): Current global tensions are a major setback for sustainable development, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres said at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday.

"Significant obstacles have emerged in our efforts to harness the positive force of globalization for sustainable development," said Guterres in a historic address before the WTO's General Council.

Washington, May 11 (PTI) United States President Donald Trump has ordered his top officials to begin the process to raise tariffs on almost all the imports from China, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Friday.

This amounts to about USD300 billion. This is in addition to the Chinese imports worth USD200 billion on which Trump increased the import duty from 10 percent to 25 percent, beginning Friday.

Mumbai, May 10 (PTI) A special court here has granted bail to an elderly doctor from suburban Bandra, accused of molesting his neighbour's 14-year-old daughter.

Special POCSO judge S J Gharat recently granted bail to the 63-year-old doctor, Kumar Ram Kanuga, in connection with the incident that took place nearly a month ago.

According to the prosecution, the victim had gone to the house of the accused, who has been practising medicine for the last 35 years, to collect the keys to her residence, which her mother had kept with him.

Mumbai, May 10 (PTI) Better asset quality and a 100 bps dip in credit cost helped the largest lender State Bank Friday report a net income of Rs 838 crore for the March quarter as against a net loss of Rs 7,718 crore a year ago, and also guide towards sunnier days.

For the full year to March, SBI, which controls a fourth of the nation's banking system, booked a net income of Rs 862 crore as against a net loss of Rs 6,547 crore. The management attributed the lower profit to the 100 percent provisions made for some key stressed accounts which are near the full resolution.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A gunman who killed a woman and wounded three during services at a Southern California synagogue later told a 911 dispatcher he had done it because “the Jewish people are destroying the white race,” prosecutors said Thursday in announcing 109 hate crime and other charges against the man.

U.S. Attorney Robert S. Brewer Jr. said it’s possible the suspect, John T. Earnest, could face the death penalty following last month’s shooting at Chabad of Poway, in a suburb north of San Diego. A decision on that will be made at a later date, Brewer said.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The actions of students who died tackling gunmen at two U.S. campuses a week apart have been hailed as heroic. At a growing number of schools around the country, they also reflect guidance to students, at least in some situations, to do what they can to disrupt shootings.

A majority of school districts have now embraced such an approach, with experts saying educators need to give staff and students as many options as possible in the worst-case scenario.

BEIJING (AP) — President Donald Trump’s latest tariff hikes on Chinese goods took effect Friday and Beijing said it would retaliate, escalating a battle over China’s technology ambitions and other trade strains.

The Trump administration raised import taxes on $200 billion of Chinese imports from 10% to 25%. China’s Commerce Ministry said would take “necessary countermeasures” but gave no details.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was released from a northern Virginia jail Thursday after a two-month stay for refusing to testify to a grand jury.

Manning spent 62 days at the Alexandria Detention Center on civil contempt charges after she refused to answer questions to a federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.

NEW YORK, May 09 (APP): An Indian-American historian has criticized India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targeting Pakistan and the Indian Muslims during his re-election campaign in an attempt to divert attention from his failures to deliver on his promises of improving people’s lives.