International

ONE of Donald Trump’s long-time assistants told federal investigators that he repeatedly wrote to-do lists for her on documents from the White House marked classified, ABC News reported. The aide, Molly Michael, told investigators that more than once she got requests or tasks from Trump written on the back of note cards that she later recognised as sensitive White House materials, the …

NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Tuesday moved a bill to reserve a third of seats in the lower house of parliament and state assemblies for women, reviving an old proposal expected to boost the standing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party among women. The contentious legislative proposal has been hanging for decades due to opposition from some heartland political …

BAKU: Azerbaijan launched military action in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Tuesday, a step that could presage a new war in the volatile area but which Baku said was necessary to restore constitutional order and drive out Armenian military formations. A spokesperson for the Azeri government called upon pro-Armenian fighters to lay down their arms `immediately’. Karabakh is internationally recognised as …

AMERICAN and Saudi officials are discussing the terms of a mutual defence treaty that would resemble military pacts that the US has with allies such as Japan and South Korea — in a bid to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel, the New York Times reported. Under the agreement, both sides would pledge to provide military support if the other …

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set on Wednesday to host a climate meeting marred at its outset by the absence of speakers from the world’s top two emitters, China and the United States. Despite increasing extreme weather events and record-shattering global temperatures, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and fossil fuel companies reap handsome profits. Guterres has thus billed the …

Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi has said Pakistan is not surprised by the Canadian accusation of Indian involvement in a separatist Sikh leader’s killing on its soil and the world must recognise the ways of the country it supposedly considered “an indispensable ally”. Qazi’s remarks came during a Tuesday night press briefing at the United Nations Mission in New York, where …

BERLIN: Beijing summoned the German ambassador to China after Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called President Xi Jinping a “dictator”, Berlin said on Monday, in the latest flare-up of tensions between the countries. While they are major trade partners, Berlin-Beijing ties have been fraying as some in the German government take a harder line over issues ranging from human rights to …

KYIV: Russia carried out new air strikes and shelling in Ukraine overnight and early on Monday, killing at least four people, Ukrainian officials said. A man aged 72 and an elderly woman were killed, and three others were wounded, in an overnight attack on the southern region of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. The general prosecutor’s office said a …

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s defence ministry urged China on Monday to stop “destructive, unilateral action” after reporting a sharp rise in Chinese military activities near the island. The ministry said that since Sunday it had spotted 103 Chinese military aircraft over the sea, a number it called a “recent high”. Its map of Chinese activities over the past 24 hours showed fighter …

UNITED NATIONS: The high-level debate of the 78th UN General Assembly begins in New York on Tuesday, with the schedule of speakers indicating that caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, who arrived here in New York on Monday, will deliver his speech on Friday. Coinciding with the start of the UNGA, the annual UN’s Climate Action Summit will set the …