International

MOSCOW: Another US-Russia nuclear pact is in danger following the US move to withdrawfrom a Cold War-era arms control treaty, a senior Russian diplomat said on Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov charged that the US refusal to negotiate an extension to the New Start treaty signals Washington’s intention to let it expire in 2021. He warned that time is running …

NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition Congress party said on Thursday it would scrap a decree passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prescribing jail terms for Muslim men seeking an instant divorce if the party wins an election due by May. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in January issued an executive order making the practice — which allows …

ISLAMABAD: After a bit of wrangling over the venue of talks on Kartarpur Corridor Accord, Pakistan and India on Thursday finally agreed in principle on reciprocal visits of officials for negotiating and finalising the agreement with Pakistani delegation set to travel to Delhi on March 13 for initiating the process. “We welcome the visit of Pakistan team to discuss and …

WASHINGTON: The US military strategy for South Asia includes assuring Pak­istan that its “equities” are acknowledged and addressed in any future agreement in Afghanistan, says a key American general. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week, Gen Joseph Votel also said that “some military cooperation activities” between the US and Pakistan have continued even though the Trump …

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince told a senior aide he would go after Jamal Khashoggi “with a bullet” a year before the dissident journalist was killed inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, the New York Times reported on Thursday quoting US intelligence. US lawmakers have threatened to take tougher action against Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi’s killing after this new revelation. US intelligence understood that …

Two journalists were shot and killed when gunmen stormed their radio station in northeast Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday, underscoring the dangers faced by reporters in the war-torn country. The pair, both men in their 20s, were gunned down inside the studios of Radio Hamsada, a private broadcaster based in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province. Nobody has claimed responsibility …

CAIRO: An international rights group urged the West on Wednesday to stop supplying weapons to parties to the conflict in Yemen after reports that the arms were ending up in the hands of extremists. Amnesty International researcher Patrick Wilcken said “the proliferation of unaccountable” militias in Yemen, which he said were backed by the United Arab Emirates, is “worsening the …

BRUSSELS: The small Balkan country of Macedonia took a big step on Wednesday towards becoming the 30th member of Nato, the world’s biggest military alliance. In a move that marked the end of a long dispute with Greece over Macedonia’s name, and less than two decades after Nato deployed troops to the country as it teetered on the brink of …

United States President Donald Trump used his second State of the Union address on Wednesday to inform his nation that his administration is holding talks with several groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. “In Afghanistan, my administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban,” he announced. “As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be …

The woman suspected of setting fire to a Paris apartment building in which 10 people died had only just been released from a psychiatric ward, sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday. The woman in her 40s, who lived in the building, is understood to have been treated a dozen times in psychiatric facilities. In late January she was released from …