International

DUBAI: Iran agreed to release four American-Iranian dual nationals from Tehran’s Evin prison under a prisoner exchange deal between Tehran and Washington, its mission to the United Nations said on Thursday. “Under the deal mediated by a third country, five Iranians jailed in the United States will be released and Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea will be unblocked and …

By: Raja Zahid Akhtar Khanzada Houston: In the presence of Pakistan’s Consul General Aftab Chaudhry, State of Texas Representative Dr. Suleman Lalani, Tariq Majeed – Pakistani Association Austin, and former Test Cricketer Jalaluddin, the Houston community under the Alliance for Disaster Relief (AFDR), Helping Hands USA, and Houston Karachi Sister City Association, on August 5, 2023, sent a 40-foot container …

KAHULUI: Wildfires fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane devastated Hawaii’s Maui island on Wednesday, killing six people and forcing tourists and residents to flee as beloved holiday destinations became flaming infernos. Some people were forced to jump into the ocean to escape the smoke and fire conditions, prompting the US coast guard to rescue them, according to a …

TEHRAN: Saudi Ara­bia’s embassy in Tehran has resumed operations, state media in Iran repor­ted on Wednesday, following a thaw in ties seven years after the mission was closed. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their respective embassies following a China-brokered deal announced in March. The long-time regional rivals severed ties in 2016 after Saudi diplomatic missions in …

WINTZENHEIM: Eleven people were killed in eastern France on Wednesday when a fire tore through a holiday lodging being used by a group of adults with learning disabilities, officials said. The fire at the timbered residence in the eastern town of Wintzenheim struck deep in the night while the guests were asleep, with many of those on the upper floor …

An assailant threw a Molotov cocktail — a bomb that consists of a bottle filled with flammable liquid — at Sweden’s embassy in Beirut, causing no casualties, Stockholm’s foreign minister and a diplomatic source said on Thursday, amid anger over recent incidents of the Holy Quran’s desecration. “We confirm that there was a Molotov cocktail thrown at the facade of our …

Over 3,000 poor Muslims have fled a business hub outside New Delhi this month, fearing for their lives after Hindu-Muslim clashes and sporadic attacks targeting them, residents, police and a community group said. Shops and shacks owned or run by Muslims and their houses in two large slum areas were padlocked when Reuters visited them more than a week after seven people were killed in clashes …

BEIJING: Seven people were killed in flash floods in south-western China on Wednesday, as authorities in Beijing tripled the death toll from the capital’s heaviest-ever rains. China has been hit by record downpours in recent weeks, damaging infrastructure and deluging swaths of Beijing’s suburbs and surrounding areas. And in south-western Sichuan province, flash flooding on Wed­nesday killed seven people on …

Russia downed 11 Ukrainian drones nearing Crimea and two headed for Moscow, officials said on Thursday, the latest in a blitz of air strikes on Russian-held territory. “Two UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) flying in the direction of the city of Moscow were destroyed,” the Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram. It said one drone was shot down …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that if the alleged contents of a diplomatic cipher — which ex-premier Imran Khan cited as proof of a conspiracy to remove his government — published in a US-based news organisation were true, it was tantamount to a “massive crime”. The purported cipher — sent to Islamabad last year by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US …