ISLAMABAD: Six peacekeepers from Pakistan will be honoured posthumously with ‘Dag Hammarskjold Medal’ at a ceremony at UN headquarters on May 26 in observance of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. According to a United Nations announcement, the Pakistani peacekeepers to be honoured are: Tahir Ikram (police), Adil Jan (police) and Muhammad Nil Naeem (military) who all served with …

WASHINGTON: The leaders of China, India and Pakistan understand the risks and costs of an armed conflict between nuclear nations but growing nationalism in the region could ignite a war, warns a new US report. The US Institute of Peace, a federal institution with a mandate from Congress, made this observation in the final report of a study by its senior scholars …

KYIV: Russia signalled on Tuesday it was bedding in for a long war in Ukraine as the conflict entered its fourth month with heavy fighting in the east but signs of some normality returning elsewhere. “We will continue the special military operation until all the objectives have been achieved,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said, using Moscow’s name for the …

ISLAMABAD: The world’s richest countries — including Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway — are providing healthier environments for children within their borders, yet they are disproportionately contributing to the destruction of global environment, putting the present and future of all children globally at risk, Unicef said in a new report released on Tuesday. The majority of wealthy countries is …

KABUL: A United Arab Emirates company signed a contract with the Taliban authorities on Tuesday to provide ground handling services at Afghanistan’s three airports, officials said, as the country seeks to resume international transit. Capital Kabul’s only airport was trashed in August when tens of thousands of people rushed to evacuate as the US-led forces withdrew. While some domestic and …

ISLAMABAD: The Amnesty International says 2021 saw a worrying rise in executions and death sentences as some of the world’s most prolific executioners returned to business as usual and courts were unshackled from Covid-19 restrictions. In its annual review of the death penalty released on Tuesday, Amnesty estimates that at least 579 executions were known to have been carried out …

TOKYO: Chinese and Russian military planes conducted joint exercises to patrol the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday in a pointed farewell to US President Joe Biden as he concluded an Asia trip that rankled Beijing. Japan scrambled jets after Russian and Chinese warplanes neared its airspace while Tokyo was hosting the leaders of the Quad group of countries, which includes the …

LONDON: The UK’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year showed “systemic failures of leadership, planning and preparation”, according to a scathing inquiry by MPs published on Tuesday. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee probe revealed a “fundamental lack of planning, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency” before and during the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August …

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire on Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and the latest gruesome moment for a country scarred by a string of massacres. The attacker was killed by law enforcement. The death toll also …

KARACHI: A key member of the Sindh cabinet said on Tuesday that the Punjab police were not cooperating with their counterparts in Sindh in the recovery of two teenage girls allegedly kidnapped in Karachi. Sindh Minister for Women Development Syeda Shehla Raza told a press conference that she would go to every extent for their safe recovery both the kidnapped …