International

WASHINGTON: Just a week after its first images were shown to the world, the James Webb Space Telescope may have found a galaxy that existed 13.5 billion years ago, a scientist who analysed the data said on Wednesday. Known as GLASS-z13, the galaxy dates back to 300 million years after the Big Bang, about 100 million years earlier than anything …

PESHAWAR: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to take several measures for promoting trade and commercial ties that include the quick clearance of commodities and launch of a luxury bus service by the end of August. A joint statement issued at the end of three-day talks between senior officials of the two counties in Kabul on Thursday said that both sides …

LONDON: British leadership candidate Liz Truss held a 24 point lead over her rival Rishi Sunak in a YouGov poll of Conservative Party Members published on Thursday. Liz Truss, the favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister, on Thursday criticised rival Rishi Sunak over his tax policies while finance minister, as the pair kicked off six weeks of campaigning. The …

A Saudi who allegedly helped a non-Muslim enter the holy city of Makkah has been arrested, police in the kingdom said on Friday, after online backlash against an Israeli journalist. The journalist, Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel 13, on Monday posted to Twitter a video of himself sneaking into Makkah in defiance of a ban on non-Muslims. Makkah regional police have …

Iran’s nuclear programme is “galloping ahead” and the International Atomic Energy Agency has very limited visibility on what is happening, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Spain’s El Pais newspaper in an interview published on Friday. In June, Iran began removing essentially all the agency’s monitoring equipment, installed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Grossi said at the time it could …

Emergency services battled wildfires across swathes of southern Europe amid mass evacuations on Wednesday, as warnings sounded in London after Britain’s hottest day that the fight against climate change needed to be stepped up. A blaze fuelled by gale-force winds raged in mountains north of Athens, forcing hundreds including hospital patients to evacuate, and similar numbers fled in central Italy …

WASHINGTON: Mark your calendars: Nasa’s Artemis programme to return to the Moon could launch its first uncrewed test flight as soon as August 29, the agency said on Wednesday. Artemis-1 is the first in a series of missions as the United States seeks to return humans to the Moon, build a sustained presence there, and use the lessons gained to …

ZAKHO: Nine civilians, including at least two children, were killed in a park in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on Wednesday by artillery fire Baghdad blamed on neighbouring Turkiye, a country engaged in a cross-border offensive. In an unusually strong rebuke, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi warned Turkiye that Iraq reserves the “right to retaliate,” calling the artillery fire a “flagrant violation” …

KYIV: Russia said on Wednesday that its military aims in Ukraine have expanded beyond the industrial Donbas region as its forces launched deadly barrages over the east and the south of the country. The warning came as the European Commission called on EU countries to slash demand for natural gas to relieve dependence on Russian energy and the bloc agreed …

ISLAMABAD: Transnational terrorist groups Al Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State are growing in strength in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and could potentially pose threat for the outside world, a recently launched United Nations report warned. The 30th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, set up under UNSC Resolutions 1526 and 2253, has taken a look at the activities …