International

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance will be just a few seats short of a majority in parliament, bolstered by a rise in nationalist sentiment over hostilities with arch foe Pakistan, a survey showed on Monday, days before voting begins. About 900 million people are eligible to vote in the election starting on Thursday, in which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata …

KUALA LUMPUR: Forty-one Rohingya were found in northern Malaysia on Monday, police said, the second group of the Muslim minority to arrive in the country within weeks, while about 200 more are feared trapped at sea. Many Rohingya have been seeking in recent weeks to leave by sea from Bangladesh — where they live in squalid refugee camps after fleeing …

WASHINGTON: Three US service members and a contractor were killed in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device on Monday, the Nato-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement. Three other US service members were wounded in the incident near Bagram air base close to Kabul, the statement said. The latest deaths brings the number of US service members’ deaths in …

WASHINGTON: Performance-based salaries of tax officials in Pakistan have significantly increased tax collection but the government move has also enhanced bribe rates, says a recent study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The study — “Tackling Corruption in Government”— analyses more than 180 countries and finds that more corrupt countries collect fewer taxes, as people pay bribes to avoid them, including …

RIYADH: Saudi Aramco has received bids for more than three times the $10 billion it was expected to raise in a debut international bond issue, which is being watched as a gauge of potential investor interest in the oil company’s eventual initial public offering. The demand prompted the world’s largest oil firm to market the six-part deal – which will …

WASHINGTON: US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has announced a major breakthrough in efforts for ending war in Afghanistan, saying that representatives of the Afghan government will participate in the Doha talks next week. Read: Afghan chief executive supports delegation for Taliban talks The Taliban also acknowledged this major development, saying that some Afghan government officials will participate in the talks but …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is sending two planeloads of relief goods for flood-hit Iran to meet its immediate needs. This message was conveyed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in a telephonic conversation on Monday. “Foreign Minister informed Mr Zarif that as a gesture of goodwill the prime minister had instructed two C-130 plane loads of relief goods …

Sanitation workers from India have refused to cast their votes for Prime Minister Modi. Workers doing the India’s dirtiest job say that Prime Minister Modi has failed them. Earlier five sanitation workers from India, all of them from the lowest rung were chosen in late February to meet Prime Minister Modi, as he was seen washing the feet and hands …

A former French spy hailed as a genius for an engineering feat that made building the Sydney Opera House possible has died aged 97, officials said Monday. Joe Bertony — one of the original engineers of Australia´s most recognisable building — handwrote 30,000 separate equations to create the “erection arch” or truss which held the concrete sails in place during …

The recent rising tensions between India and Pakistan that led to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace resulted in Afghanistan’s loss of at least $8 million in over month. As per reports, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority revealed that while the Pakistani airspace was closed for all commercial flights for some time and had been reopened later, certain flights flying from …