International

WASHINGTON: The US has issued new rules allowing most commercial and financial transactions with Afghanistan that could kick-start the paralysed economy of the war-torn country. “To be clear, sanctions on the Taliban remain in place” but the new rules would ease the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial activities, said US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken while announcing the …

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office claimed 81 Pakistanis have been moved out of Ukraine by the end of the second day of evacuations on Saturday. The 81 evacuees included 21 family members of the embassy staff. Previously, 35 students had been transferred to Poland by Friday night. Meanwhile, another 510 Pakistani nationals in Ukraine are on their way to the borders with Poland, …

Street fighting broke out in Ukraine’s second-largest city and Russian troops squeezed strategic ports in the country’s south on Sunday, advances that appeared to mark a new phase of Russia’s invasion following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere in the country. Following its gains on the ground, Russia sent a delegation to Belarus for peace talks …

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi on Saturday said the Kashmiris wanted settlement of their longstanding issue in accordance with the United Nations resolutions but warned that the failure of international community to address this dispute could force Pakistan to resort to a nuclear war with India. “…We have not developed the atom bomb …

KYIV/WASHINGTON: Ukrai­nian forces fought off Russian troops in the capital Kyiv on Friday on the second day of a conflict that has claimed dozens of lives, as President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian army to remove the country’s leadership, while the Ukrainian presidential adviser claimed Kyiv is ready for talks with Moscow. Small arms fire and explosions were heard in the …

ST. PAUL: Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty by a federal jury on Thursday of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights by failing to give aid to the handcuffed Black man pinned beneath a colleague’s knee. The jury also found that the conduct of officers Tou Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and Thomas Lane, 38, during …

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden picked Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday to be the first Black woman in US history to serve on the nation’s highest court. “I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court,” Biden said. “She is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional …

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has condemned the killing of eight polio vaccination workers at four locations in northern Afghanistan this week, reminding the perpetrators that this was a clear violation of international humanitarian laws. The United Nations suspended its polio vaccination campaign in Kunduz and Takhar provinces where the attacks took place, said a statement issued at the UN …

LONDON: Russia was stripped of hosting the Champions League final by UEFA on Friday with St Petersburg replaced by Paris, and Formula One dropped this season’s Russian Grand Prix at Sochi, as the invasion of Ukraine drew punitive measures across the sporting world. Manchester United also dropped Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot as a sponsor citing events in Ukraine after the …

PADANG: Seven people died and dozens more were injured when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Friday, with residents shuttling loved ones to safety as buildings crumbled around them. The earthquake came just minutes after a less violent tremor, as terrified residents had begun evacuating their houses. “We all fled our home (after the first quake),” Yudi Prama …