International

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas, the first major truce of the more than 10-month long war that has killed tens of thousands and devastated swathes of Ukraine. Putin ordered the ceasefire to begin on Jan 6, the Kremlin said. Many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate …

ISLAMABAD: The US has so far provided more than $273 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and its host communities. In the fiscal year 2022, the US provided nearly $60 million in assistance to the Afghan refugees and Pakistani host communities. Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad on Thursday, US Ambassador Donald Blome said: “The United States …

Mexican drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of incarcerated kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been arrested by Mexican authorities, five officials familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. News of the capture came after a night of violence in the city of Culiacan in the northern state of Sinaloa, home to the drug cartel of the same name, and …

LOS ANGELES: Excessive rain, heavy snow and landslides are expected to wallop California through Thursday as a series of winter storms rip across the western US coast, prompting the Golden State’s governor to declare a state of emergency. The incoming system is set to deliver yet more rain to already-saturated California, where the National Weather Service (NWS) is warning of …

WASHINGTON: Republican leader Kevin McCarthy lost an eighth vote for the US House of Representatives speaker on Thursday, even after he made several concessions intended to win over far-right opponents who have so far blocked his path. The final tally of the eighth vote was barely changed from the seventh ballot. Mr McCarthy received 201 votes, just as he did …

BEIJING: China defended on Thursday its handling of its raging Covid-19 outbreak after US President Joe Biden voiced concern and the WHO said Beijing was under-reporting virus deaths. The WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said on Wednesday that Chinese officials were under-representing data on several fronts, some of the UN agency’s most critical remarks to date. China scrapped its stringent …

More countries around the world are demanding that visitors from China take Covid tests, days before it drops border controls and ushers in an eagerly awaited return to travel for a population that has been largely stuck at home for three years. From Sunday, China will end the requirement for inbound travellers to quarantine, the latest dismantling of its “zero-Covid” …

LONDON: Hackers stole the email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users and posted them on an online hacking forum, a security researcher said on Wednesday. The breach will unfortunately lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing and doxxing, Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity-monitoring firm Hudson Rock, wrote on LinkedIn. He called it one of the most …

KARACHI: Ideas for the future are being thrown around by Shahid Afridi, who reiterated that naming the squad for the three-match One-day International series against New Zealand is his last assignment in the role as Pakistan’s interim chief selector. In recent television comments, Afridi had stated that players with strike rate of 135 or above would be considered for selection; …

TEHRAN: Iran warned France on Wednesday it would respond after “insulting” cartoons depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. The weekly had published dozens of cartoons on the same day ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in Iran. The magazine said the cartoons were part of a competition it launched last month …