International

SEOUL: Eight Russian diplomats and family members — the youngest of them a three-year-old girl — have arrived home from North Korea on a hand-pushed rail trolley due to Pyongyang’s coronavirus restrictions. Video posted on Russia’s foreign ministry’s verified Telegram account showed the trolley, laden with suitcases and women, being pushed across a border railway bridge by Third Secretary Vladislav …

LONDON: Britain’s highest court on Friday rejected a bid by a woman who was stripped of her UK citizenship for joining the militant Islamic State group to return to challenge the decision. Five judges at the Supreme Court gave a unanimous decision in the case of Shamima Begum, whose legal battles have come to be seen as a test of …

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday insisted that there was no change in the government’s policy on the Kashmir dispute. “There is no change in Pakistan’s principled and long-held position on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute,” FO spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at the weekly media briefing while replying to questions about the agreement reached with India following the ‘hotline …

DHAKA: Police in Bangla­desh on Friday baton charged and fired tear gas at hundreds of students demonstrating in the capital after a prominent writer and government critic died in jail. At least 10 people suffered minor injuries in the clashes with police, a witness said, amid growing demands for an independent investigation into the death of Mushtaq Ahmed. A correspondent …

NEW DELHI: India and China have agreed to set up a hotline between their foreign ministers as the two nuclear-armed neighbours look to reduce tensions along a disputed Himalayan border where their troops have been locked in confrontation since last summer. The decision was reached at a lengthy call between the two foreign ministers on Thursday, India’s foreign ministry said …

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler approved an operation to capture or kill murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to United States intelligence released on Friday as the United States imposed sanctions on some of those involved but spared the crown prince himself in an effort to preserve relations with the kingdom. Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington …

NEW YORK: Myanmar’s UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, speaking for the country’s elected civilian government ousted in a military coup on Feb 1, appealed to the United Nations on Friday “to use any means necessary to take action against the Myanmar military” to restore democracy to the Southeast Asian country. He addressed the 193-member UN General Assembly after Secretary General …

MUZAFFARABAD: Amid an alarming spike in Covid-19 cases in Mirpur district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the local administration announced a one-week lockdown in the district from Monday. All educational institutions will remain closed for two weeks and other religious, political and social activities have also been banned, according to an order issued by office of the Deputy Commissioner …

Former President Obama said earlier this week that the case for reparations for Black Americans is “justified,” but he added that the “politics of white resistance and resentment,” among other issues, made the prospect of pursuing the issue during his presidency a “non-starter.” “So, if you ask me theoretically: ‘Are reparations justified?’ The answer is yes,” the former president said …

UNITED NATIONS: As senior military officials from India and Pakistan were discussing how to de-escalate tensions, Pakistan’s UN envoy reminded the Security Council that the United Nations charter does not allow the use of force to prevent ‘future’ and ‘anticipatory’ attacks. Pakistan used the Arria Formula, an informal arrangement, to convey the alarming message hours before senior military commanders from …