International

KYIV: Russia on Thursday withdrew from Snake Island, a craggy speck of land in the Black Sea, handing Ukraine a symbolically-potent political victory and depriving Moscow of a strategic outpost for its air defences and electronic warfare systems. The island’s capture by Russian forces on the first day of their invasion entered Ukrainian folklore. Just over four months later, Kyiv’s …

HONG KONG: Hong Kong has overcome its challenges and “risen from the ashes”, China’s President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, as he arrived in the former British colony to celebrate 25 years since its return to Chinese rule. Xi will swear in the global financial hub’s new leader, John Lee, on Friday during his first visit to the city since …

JERUSALEM: Israeli lawmakers dissolved parliament on Thursday, forcing the country’s fifth election in less than four years, with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid set to take over as caretaker prime minister at midnight. After the unanimous 92-0 vote, the centrist Lapid embraced outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whose year in charge of an unwieldy, eight-party coalition was ultimately undone by its …

India imposed a ban on many single-use plastics on Friday in a bid to tackle waste choking rivers and poisoning wildlife, but experts say it faces severe headwinds from unprepared manufacturers and consumers unwilling to pay more. The country generates around four million tonnes of plastic waste per year, about a third of which is not recycled and ends up …

The Indian Supreme Court on Friday berated Nupur Sharma, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) suspended official whose derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) last month sparked global protests, saying she should “apologise to the whole country”. “We saw the debate on how she was incited. But the way she said all this and later says she was a lawyer, it is …

ISLAMABAD: The much-talked-about Russian oil imports intended for cost savings may not materialise at institutional level as the cons outweigh pros, coupled with Moscow’s disinterest. Informed sources told Dawn all the refineries had the technical capacity to the extent of 30 to 35 per cent to process Russian crude grades with minor adjustments. None of the Pakistani refineries can handle 100pc Russian …

WASHINGTON: About a dozen US lawmakers gathered on the rooftop of a building across Capitol Hill this week, urging the Biden administration to stay engaged with Pakistan, a country they said was too important to be ignored. And at least one lawmaker, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, however, offered to use his influence to help repair the damage done …

ISLAMABAD: Higher levels of anonymity and reduced risks of detention have made the Internet an attractive alternate for drug trafficking and secure method of distribution of substances for illicit drug markets, reveals the ‘World Drug Report 2022’ released on Wednesday. The report released by the UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) in Islamabad, however, said that despite these advantages, …

MADRID: The United States vowed on Wednesday to shore up Europe’s defences in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Nato declared Moscow the West’s greatest threat. Meeting in Madrid, alliance leaders said Russia “is the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area”. This came as Nato welcomed Sweden …

DOHA: Iran said it was “serious” about nuclear talks with the United States but that negotiations could end after just two days on Wednesday, as they try to revive a landmark deal. The indirect negotiations in Qatar are an attempt to reboot long-running European Union-mediated talks on a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers. Iran’s …