International

ISLAMABAD: Nearly 90 million people in Asia-Pacific region are likely to have been pushed into extreme poverty, and over 150m and 170m live on less than $3.20 and $5.50 a day, respectively, due to the pandemic’s adverse impacts on livelihoods — by way of falling incomes, remittances and consumption, says a new report released two years after Covid-19 that began …

SDE BOKER: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the top diplomats of Israel and four Arab states wrapped up a landmark meeting on Monday vowing to boost cooperation which, Israel said, would send a strong message to its arch foe Iran. The talks brought together for the first time on Israeli soil the foreign ministers of the United Arab …

PARIS: The killing in action of several Russian generals and senior military figures in Ukraine has revealed the extent of the heavy losses and logistical problems encountered by Moscow’s invading army. According to Kyiv, seven Russian generals have been killed since the invasion was launched on Feb 24, in what Western officials say would be an unusually high casualty rate …

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has sought an additional credit line of $1.5 billion from India to import essentials, the island nation’s central bank governor said on Monday, amid its worst economic crisis in decades. The country of 22 million people is struggling to pay for essential imports after a 70pc drop in foreign exchange reserves in two years led to a …

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban has instructed all government employees to wear a beard and adhere to a dress code or risk being fired, three sources said, the latest of several new restrictions imposed by the hardline Islamist administration. The sources said representatives from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were patrolling the entrances to government offices …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden refused on Monday to back down on his weekend declaration in a major speech that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power” — arguing that he was voicing personal “outrage.” “I’m not walking anything back… I want to make it clear, I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change. I was …

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi left on Tuesday for China to attend the third meeting of the ‘Foreign Ministers of Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan’. In a video message before departing, he said the talks would be attended by foreign ministers of all the countries in the region. “We will run through the situation of peace in Afghanistan and discuss its …

India has agreed to develop three Sri Lankan wind farms on islets between the countries, officials said on Tuesday, in a victory for New Delhi after the project was taken away from a Chinese firm. New Delhi has long been alarmed about growing Chinese influence in the region. In 2020, 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops died in a brawl on …

RIYADH: The Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Sunday on Yemen hours after Houthi rebels announced a three-day truce, with the UN chief condemning a surge in violence as the war enters its eighth year. The raids targeted Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, according to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ekhbariya TV, which tweeted “the start of air strikes on Houthi camps and strongholds …

TEHRAN: A leading European Union diplomat held talks in Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s state-run media reported, amid hopes that an agreement to restore Iran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers could be completed. The meetings between the EU’s envoy, Enrique Mora, and top Iranian officials come at a sensitive moment for talks to revive the deal, as the glimmers of …