International

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hosted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for talks as the Kremlin seeks to mend ties between Damascus and Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting followed the surprise announcement last week of a Chinese-brokered restoration of diplomatic ties between the Middle East’s major rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Ties between Erdogan and Assad were severed …

NEW DELHI: Russia’s war in Ukraine has brought the world to a standstill when urgent action is needed to address growing global poverty, India’s G20 summit negotiator Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday. Kant’s comments follow two back-to-back G20 ministerial meetings in India in the last three weeks overshadowed by the war, which entered its second year last month. India, which …

THOUSANDS of demonstrators around the world took to the streets on Wednesday to demand better living conditions at a time inflation is making it even tougher for people to make two ends meet. The UK’s capital crippled when teachers, London Underground train drivers and civil servants joined striking doctors in a mass stoppage as Britain’s finance minister unveiled his tax …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan urged the global community on Wednesday to unite against all hate-based beliefs as the world observed the first International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres reminded the world that nearly two billion Muslims who live on this planet “reflect humanity in all its magnificent diversity. Yet, they often face bigotry and prejudice simply …

HOUSTON: Nasa and the private aerospace company Axiom Space unveiled a prototype on Wednesday of the next-generation spacesuit that astronauts will wear on the next mission to the Moon. The suit revealed at an event at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston features greater flexibility and thermal protection than those worn by the Apollo astronauts who first walked on the …

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia could start making investments in Iran “very quickly” after they agreed to restore diplomatic ties, the Saudi finance minister said on Wednesday, despite sweeping US sanctions against Tehran. Mohammed Al Jadaan said there were “a lot of opportunities” in Iran and that he could not see any reason to prevent investments from taking place between the two Gulf heavyweights. …

An Indonesian court jailed a police officer for 18 months on Thursday over negligence contributing to one of the worst stadium disasters in the history of football. Last year’s crush in the city of Malang killed 135 people — including more than 40 children — after a 3-2 defeat for Arema FC by their fierce East Javan rivals Persebaya Surabaya. When supporters …

The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday reacted strongly to a series of suggestions made by former US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, saying Pakistan did not need “unsolicited advice” on the challenges it faces. A day earlier, Khalilzad, who had served as the special envoy for Afghan reconciliation under both the Trump and Biden administrations, said that Pakistan was “underperforming …

China warned on Tuesday that Australia, Britain and the United States were treading a “path of error and danger” after they unveiled a nuclear-powered submarines deal. Australia announced on Monday it would buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines, then build a new model with US and British technology under an ambitious plan to bulk up Western muscle across the …

Lahore jumped more than 10 places to become the city with the worst air in the world in 2022, according to an annual global survey by a Swiss maker of air purifiers. The report published on Tuesday by IQAir also said that Chad in central Africa had replaced Bangladesh as the country with the most polluted air last year. IQAir measures air …