International

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf on Friday called for building the Pak-US bilateral relationship around economic security. He was speaking at the launch of a report titled ‘Pak-Americana: Ushe­ring in a New Era of Pakistan-US Rela­tions’ published by Tabadlab, a think tank and advisory services firm. This paradigm shift in ties, he …

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump is the target of unconstitutional “vengeance” and senators should reject his impeachment for inciting insurrection, the former president’s lawyer told the US Senate at the opening of the defense case on Friday. “The article of impeachment now before the Senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance,” attorney Michael van der Veen said. “Like …

India has chided Twitter for not complying with its orders to remove certain accounts and content, warning the social media platform that it “must respect” Indian laws “irrespective of Twitter’s own rules and guidelines.” “We value freedom and we value criticism because it is part of our democracy. But freedom of expression is not absolute and it is subject to reasonable restrictions” …

British television channel BBC World News has been barred from airing in China, the National Radio and Television Administration said on Friday, a week after Britain’s media regulator revoked Chinese state television’s broadcast licence. In a statement issued on the stroke of the Lunar New Year, the administration said an investigation found BBC World News’ China-related reports had “seriously violated” regulations, including that …

Nepal on Wednesday revoked the Everest summit certificates of two Indian climbers for faking their 2016 ascent, and banned them and their team leader from mountaineering in the country for six years, officials said. Narender Singh Yadav and Seema Rani Goswami said they reached the top of the world’s highest mountain in the 2016 spring season, and Nepal’s tourism department …

ISLAMABAD: The International Development Committee (IDC) has relaunched an inquiry into effectiveness of UK Aid to Pakistan. In June 2019, the previous IDC launched an inquiry into UK Aid to Pakistan but did not take any oral evidence before parliament was dissolved. The new committee comprising 11 members of the parliament is chaired by Sarah Champion of the Labour Party. …

BEIRUT: A multi-faith memorial service for Lebanese activist Lokman Slim, who was killed last week, triggered a row on Thursday after a Shia cleric was attacked on social media for taking part. Slim, an academic and leading secular voice from the Shia community, was routinely criticised and often threatened over his stance against the powerful Shia movement Hezbollah. The service, …

ISLAMABAD / WASHINGTON: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday asked the Biden administration not to overlook the ground realities vis-à-vis occupied Kashmir as he urged the world to help in reaching a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute before it was too late. He was speaking at a photography and cultural exhibition held at the Foreign Office as part …

Attorneys for Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears sparred on Thursday over how he should share power with a financial company newly appointed as his partner in the conservatorship that controls her money. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny overruled an objection of Jamie’s attorney, Vivian Lee Thoreen, who argued that he should not yield previously granted rights and powers …

PARIS: Russia and France on Thursday urged Iran to show restraint after it started producing uranium metal in a new breach of limits laid out in Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. The UN’s nuclear watchdog in Vienna reported that Iran has started producing uranium metal in defiance of a 2015 deal with world powers on which ex-US president Donald …