International

TEHRAN: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday reiterated the country’s commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with Iran in diverse areas, saying that building close relations with Tehran remained a high priority for Pakistan. Moreover, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, while speaking during a joint press conference with Mr Bhutto-Zardari, said Iran still believes that negotiations can succeed in reviving the …

Ambas­sador Masood Khan, Islam­abad’s ambassador in Wa­­shington, has met US President Joe Biden on his visit to the White House where the two discussed building a “strong basis for moving Pakistan-US ties forward”. According to a press release issued by the Pakistan Embassy in the US, Khan visited the White House for a “meet and greet” and an official photograph …

KOLKATA: Thousands of Muslims marched in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Tuesday in a second week of protests, while six prominent former judges said a state government had acted illegally by demolishing the house of a Muslim activist. Muslims have taken to the streets across India to protest against anti-Islamic comments made by two members of the Bharatiya …

Four out of five children in Gaza suffer from emotional distress, Save the Children said Wednesday, 15 years after Israel slapped a strict blockade on the Palestinian territory. Israel imposed the measure in June 2007, as fighters of the Hamas movement took control of the densely populated enclave. Israel, and Egypt, continue to severely restrict the flow of people and …

BAGHDAD: Iraq temporarily closed Baghdad airport on Monday as choking clouds of dust blanketed the capital, the latest crippling sandstorm in a country that has warned climate change poses an “existential threat”. It was the tenth such storm since mid-April to hit Iraq, which has been battered by intense droughts, soil degradation, high temperatures and low rainfall linked to climate …

BRUSSELS: Google parent Alphabet has offered to let rival ad intermediaries place ads on YouTube to address a crucial part of an EU anti-trust investigation that could pave the way for it to settle the case without a fine, people familiar with the matter said. The European Commission opened a probe last year to examine whether the world’s largest provider …

ATALAIA NORTE: Hum­an remains have been found in the search for a British journalist and Brazilian indigenous expert who disappeared deep in the Amazon after receiving threats, Brazil’s president confirmed on Monday. Relatives of the missing men — veteran correspondent Dom Phillips, 57, and respected indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira, 41 — meanwhile said Brazilian authorities had informed them two bodies …

KRAMATORSK: Ukraine said on Monday its forces had been pushed back from the centre of key industrial city Severodonetsk, where President Volodymyr Zelensky described a fight for “literally every metre”. The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which are separated by a river, have been targeted for weeks as the last areas still under Ukrainian control in the eastern Lugansk region. …

ISLAMABAD: A day before leaving for Iran on an official visit, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday made it clear that former prime minister Imran Khan and his government had not been removed because of the latter’s visit to Russia as the present coalition government was also following the PTI government’s foreign policy of being neutral in the Russia-Ukraine war. …

WASHINGTON: China and some other allies are quietly working to get Pakistan off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list during the agency’s next plenary session, diplomatic sources told Dawn. The FATF, a global body which monitors money laundering and terrorism financing, is holding the four-day — June 14-17 — session in Berlin, Germany, from Tuesday. FATF delegates representing …