International

NEW DELHI: Global automaker Toyota Motor and fast food chain Domino’s Pizza are among half a dozen companies that have apologised to India for social media posts from their Pakistani partners expressing support for held Kashmir, as more companies got caught up in the diplomatic fracas. The apology comes after a rare diplomatic escalation between South Korea and India on …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the international community to focus on combating the rising phenomenon of Islamophobia, which now forms part of far-right and neo-fascist parties’ manifestos in several countries. “We are witnessing the global resurgence in intolerance, discrimination, racism, negative stereotyping, and violence against persons, on the basis of religion or belief,” warned Ambassador Aamir Khan, Pakistan’s deputy permanent …

KOLKATA: The outrage and resentment over a ban on wearing of hijab at schools in an Indian state is spreading, not just in India itself but abroad as well. At least one Indian parliamentarian has objected to the ban as has a Nobel laureate. Pakistan’s foreign minister has also weighed in on the matter. For their part, hundreds of students in Kolkata …

India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh began voting on Thursday in the first of a series of local elections that will be a key test of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling party. With a population almost as big as that of Brazil, keeping power in the bellwether state would give the Bharatiya Janata Party …

Democratic standards across the world fell again in 2021 amid the pandemic and growing support for authoritarianism to leave just over 45 per cent of the world’s population living in a democracy, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said on Thursday. As in 2020, less than half of the world’s population is living in a democracy but the trend has deteriorated …

With American consumers spending freely and many supply chains still snarled, year-over-year inflation may have notched yet another four-decade high in January. The factors that have accelerated prices since last spring remain largely in place: Wages are rising at the fastest pace in at least 20 years. Ports and warehouses are overwhelmed, with hundreds of workers at the ports of …

The United States remains focused long-term on the Indo-Pacific region despite concerns over Russian aggression towards Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday. Blinken is in the Australian city of Melbourne for a meeting on Friday with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan. The four nations form the so-called “Quad”, a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that …

United States President Joe Biden and King Salman of Saudi Arabia discussed energy supplies in the face of soaring fuel prices and developments in the Middle East, including Iran and Yemen, in a telephone call on Wednesday. “The two leaders committed to ensuring the stability of global energy supplies,” the White House said in a statement. Salman, head of the …

Pakistan categorically rejected on Thursday the “unwarranted and preposterous” comments by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on the joint statement issued by Islamabad and Beijing following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visit to China. The joint statement was issued as PM Imran concluded his visit after meeting President Xi Jinping on February 6. According to the statement, PM Imran highlighted during …

LONDON: Britain’s embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced renewed pressure on Tuesday to apologise to opposition leader Keir Starmer for what critics have called a misleading “Trumpian” attack on him last week. Johnson — already facing calls to step down after months of scandals — accused Starmer of failing in 2013 as head of the country’s prosecution service to take …