International

LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May sparked outrage on Sunday by suggesting parliament may not be able to vote on her Brexit deal until March 12, just days before Britain leaves the EU. The decision increases the chances that MPs will move next week to delay Brexit beyond March 29, to avoid a potentially disastrous situation where Britain exits with no …

ISLAMABAD: The South Korean government has planned to arrange a pilot pilgrims’ tour to the Buddhist sacred places in Gandhara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by March or April this year. This was stated by Ambassador of South Korea Kwak Sung-Kyu while talking to this news agency. The ambassador said he was working on the arrangements for sending the Buddhist pilgrims to the …

KABUL: Officials of the US and Taliban are to meet in Qatar for fresh talks on Monday (today), seeking an end to 17 years of grinding conflict in Afghanistan. Marathon talks held in Doha last month stoked hopes of a breakthrough after the two sides walked away with a “draft framework” that included a Taliban commitment to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a …

The Foreign Office on Monday announced that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had postponed his trip to Japan due to the “sensitive situation” brewing in the region in the wake of the Pulwama attack. According to media reports, the Jaish-e-Muhammad had claimed responsibility for the attack but New Delhi immediately blamed Islamabad and threatened a retaliatory attack. It also announced that …

SRINAGAR: Five people were killed in a gun battle between armed Kashmiris and Indian forces in India-held Kashmir on Sunday as New Delhi intensified a crackdown. The authorities detained more than 160 Kashmiri fighters at the weekend. According to police, three members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the group that claimed the suicide car bombing which killed 40 Indian paramilitary police on …

A would-be hijacker shot and killed by Bangladesh commandos was carrying a fake gun and told negotiators he wanted to commandeer a Dubai-bound flight because he had troubles with his wife, officials said on Monday. The 25-year-old was shot and later died of his wounds after taking a crew member hostage on the Biman Airlines jet, forcing it to make an emergency …

United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Hanoi this week, faced with putting meat on the bones of the vaguely worded declaration that emerged from their historic first summitin Singapore. That encounter — the first-ever between the leaders of the US and North Korea — left many ambiguities on the key question of denuclearisation …

WASHINGTON: The United States and Russia have agreed to explore options for securing UN travel waivers for Taliban negotiators to participate in peace talks, a US envoy said on Friday. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted that the issue was discussed at a meeting he had with his Russian counterpart Zamir Kabulov in Ankara on Friday “We …

R&B superstar R. Kelly turned himself in to Chicago police on Friday, after prosecutors charged him with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse against four victims, three of them minors. The bombshell development in the Kelly saga came after a judge approved a no-bail arrest warrant for the 52-year-old, who for decades has faced accusations of child pornography, sex …

BEIJING: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman cemented a $10 billion deal for a refining and petrochemical complex in Chinaon Friday, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Saudi delegation, including top executives from state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, arrived on Thursday on an Asia tour that has already seen the kingdom pledge investment of $20bn in Pakistan and seek to …