International

WASHINGTON: The United States will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia, President Joe Biden said on Monday, as Ukraine pushes for longer-range weapons system to help in its fight. Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range systems including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS, that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles …

Pakistan on Tuesday dispatched a second consignment consisting of items of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine at the request of the war-torn country. According to a Radio Pakistan report, a special C-130 aircraft took off today to deliver more than 7.5 tons of relief items for the war-stricken people of Ukraine. Another 7.5 tons of assistance will be dispatched on Friday (June 3). …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has hailed “exemplary” relations between Pakistan and Turkey, saying the countries support each other on all issues of core interest including the disputes related to occupied Kashmir and Northern Cyprus. He made the remarks in an interview with Turkish media outlet Anadolu Agency ahead of his three-day visit to the country. The prime minister left for Turkey today. During his trip, …

Israel signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, its first big trade accord with an Arab state and a move aimed at boosting trade between the two Middle East nations. The pact was signed in Dubai after months of negotiations. “Done,” Israel’s Ambassador to the UAE Amir Hayek said on Twitter, replying to another tweet …

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a proposed freeze on handgun ownership in Canada that would effectively ban their importation and sale, following recent mass shootings in the United States. The bill must still be passed by Parliament, with the ruling Liberals holding only a minority of seats. “We’re introducing legislation to implement a national freeze on handgun ownership,” Trudeau told a …

Torrential rains in northeastern Brazil have left at least 79 people dead and dozens missing, civil defence officials said on Sunday, as rescuers capitalised on a lull in downpours to search for survivors. “As of 6pm (2100 GMT) this Sunday, the number of people killed as a result of the rains has reached 79,” the civil defence authority of Pernambuco …

UVALDE: US President Joe Biden laid flowers and prayed on Sunday at the makeshift shrine erected in Uvalde to the 19 children and two teachers murdered by a teen gunman after he stormed their elementary school. Biden, accompanied by his wife, Jill Biden, was in the small Texas town less than two weeks after making a similar trip to the …

KHARKIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday made his first trip to the country’s war-torn east since the launch of Moscow’s invasion, as Russian forces tightened their grip around key cities in the Donbas region. Zelensky’s office posted a video on Telegram of him wearing a bullet-proof vest and being shown destroyed buildings in Kharkiv and its surroundings, from where …

WASHINGTON: One person was killed and seven were injured in a shooting early Sunday at an outdoor festival in eastern Oklahoma, authorities said. The shooting — at a Memorial Day festival in Taft, Oklahoma, — alarmed America as it followed a mass shooting in the small Texas town of Uvalde last week. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) reported …

WASHINGTON: Key US lawmakers expressed guarded optimism on Sunday that the shocking school shooting in Texas might lead to at least small steps against gun violence. “There are more Repu­blicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than I have seen since Sandy Hook,” Dem­ocratic Senator Chris Mur­phy said on ABC, referring to the 2012 school shooting …