International

SHANGHAI: China on Saturday launched a mechanism that would allow it to sanction foreign companies, upping the ante in a tech war with the United States a day after Washington moved to curb popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. China’s long-expected “unreliable entities list” is seen as a weapon for Beijing to retaliate against the United States, which has used …

MOSCOW: Russia’s leading opposition politician Alexei Navalny announced on Saturday he could now walk with a “tremble”, and gave the first detailed account of his recovery nearly a month after being poisoned with Novichok nerve agent. The 44-year-old Kremlin critic posted a photo of himself walking downstairs on Instagram and described how earlier symptoms had included the inability to form …

BANGKOK: Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand’s Grand Palace on Saturday, in a huge rally calling for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy. The kingdom has seen near-daily gatherings of youth-led groups since mid-July calling for the resignation of Prayut, the former army chief behind the 2014 coup, and …

UNITED NATIONS: As many as 20 million girls may not return to schools even after the Covid-19 crisis is over, warns UN Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai. Speaking at a side event of the UN General Assembly on Friday afternoon, the youngest Nobel Laureate acknowledged that Covid-19 had been “a striking setback to our collective goals”, such as educating women. …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday participated in the opening ceremony of multinational military exercises in Russia’s Astrakhan region, the Inter-Services Public Relations said. A contingent of 20 Pakistani commandos took part in the opening ceremony of Kavkaz-2020. The military drills, which will be held from Sept 21-26 aim to assess ability of troops to react to various challenges and learn from …

TAIPEI: A top US diplomat attended the funeral for former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui on Saturday which featured a eulogy by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama before wrapping up a visit overshadowed by Chinese military exercises. Keith Krach, undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, was the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Taiwan since 1979 …

WASHINGTON: Covid-19 deaths in the United States topped 200,000 on Saturday while more than 6,740,400 confirmed cases were also recorded. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre had recorded 198,921 deaths by Friday afternoon, which crossed the 200,000 mark on Saturday. Another monitoring agency, Worldometer, reported 203,503 deaths by Saturday afternoon. Dr Tom Frieden, former director of the Centres for Disease …

KABUL: The Afghan air force conducted multiple strikes on Taliban positions on Saturday that killed more than 30 insurgent fighters, officials said, as President Ashraf Ghani once again called for a ceasefire. The Taliban claimed the strike had killed nearly two dozen civilians including women and children in the latest mass-casualty incident in Afghanistan that came even as peace talks …

After the nomination of the new PPP officials USA, by the PPP overseas committee split its US wing into two fractions. By: special corespondent NewYork: New Office holders of Pakistan People’s Party were announced recently on the recommendations of the party’s overseas committee, which split its US wing  into two factions.   Senior Party stalwarts have called this a devastating …

Singer, songwriter and actress Selena Gomez, who is one of the most influential stars on social media, went straight to Facebook and Instagram leadership to combat hate speech, misinformation and racism ahead of US elections. The Lose You To Love Me singer shared with fans her private message that she had written to Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg on …