TEHRAN: Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year deal on cooperation between the two allies subject to US sanctions during a visit on Saturday to the Islamic republic by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The inking of the agreement “shows the determination of the high-level officials of the two countries for development of relations in different fields,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said. …

SHANGHAI: China’s capital Beijing is facing an “explosive” Covid-19 outbreak connected to a bar, a government spokesman warned on Saturday, as the commercial hub of Shanghai began mass testing to contain a jump in cases tied to a popular beauty salon. The warning followed a renewed tightening of Covid curbs in Beijing since Thursday, with at least two districts — …

SINGAPORE: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday blasted China’s “provocative, destabilising” military activity near Taiwan, as well as Beijing’s growing aggression across the wider Asia-Pacific region. Tensions between Washington and Beijing are soaring over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan, which China views as its territory and has vowed to seize one day, by force if necessary. Beijing has conducted dozens of …

WASHINGTON: More than 450 protests were held across the United States on Saturday to persuade American lawmakers to play their role in ending gun violence. The largest rally was held in the US capital where thousands of protesters gather near the Washington Monument, calling for tighter firearms laws. The protests followed two recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, …

A senior tri-service military delegation of Pakistan, headed by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, visited China, where the two sides pledged to enhance their “training, technology and counter-terrorism cooperation”. In a press release issued on Sunday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the delegation of Pakistan’s armed forces visited China from June 9 to June …

An overladen ship crammed with thousands of sheep sank on Sunday in Sudan’s Red Sea port of Suakin drowning the animals on board but with all crew surviving, port officials said. The livestock vessel was exporting the animals from Sudan to Saudi Arabia when it sank after several thousand more animals were loaded on board than it was meant to …

Some 1,200 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank region of Masafer Yatta face the risk of forced removal to make way for an army firing zone after a decades-long legal battle that ended last month in Israel’s highest court. The ruling opened the way for one of the largest displacements since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war. But …

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said on Sunday that it was up to the United States to improve the bilateral relationship, as ties were at a critical juncture. Repeating several times at an Asian security meeting that China only sought peace and stability, and was not an aggressor, he called on the United States to “strengthen solidarity and oppose confrontation …

KARACHI: Police on Saturday informed a court that suspects who gang-raped a young woman in a moving train also filmed the entire episode to blackmail the victim. The investigating officer of the case, Inspector Habibullah Khattak, submitted this before Judicial Magistrate (South) Shahnawaz in a progress report. The Railway police had arrested five staffers of the privately managed Bahaudin Zakria …

PESHAWAR: Over 200 wildfires damaged forests and pastures over an area of 14,430 acres in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during past two weeks. Of the 210 wildfire incidents, some 55 blazes have been started intentionally by local people and 12 ascribed to dry weather conditions while the cause of another 143 blazes is unknown, according to a report compiled …