International

UNITED NATIONS: UN rights experts urged India on Tuesday to “end relentless misogynistic attacks” on a Muslim journalist as Indian Muslims protested across the United States against the hijab ban in their country. Rana Ayyub, an independent journalist and defender of women’s human rights, “continues to be the target of intensifying online harassment by far-right Hindu nationalist groups,” the UN …

The East-West faceoff over Ukraine escalated dramatically on Tuesday, with Russian lawmakers authorising President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and US President Joe Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. Both leaders signalled that an even bigger confrontation could lie ahead. Putin has yet to unleash the force of the 150,000 troops …

China on Wednesday accused the United States of “raising tensions” and “creating panic” over the Ukraine crisis, shortly after Washington announced sanctions against Moscow and said it would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine against a Russian invasion. Beijing has trod a cautious line on Ukraine as Moscow has massed thousands of troops on the borders, and criticised the West for …

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly of Pakistan has got observer status in the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), says an official handout issued by the NA Secretariat here on Tuesday. The approval to grant the observer status to Pakistan’s National Assembly was granted during the 42nd AIPA General Assembly meeting held in Brunei Darrusalam. The AIPA comprises …

BRUSSELS: The main political grouping in the European Parliament called on Monday for a review of Switzerland’s banking practices and for the country’s possible inclusion in the EU’s dirty-money blacklist after leaks of Credit Suisse documents. Media outlets published the results of investigations into a leak of data on thousands of accounts held at the bank in past decades and …

India has rushed hundreds of security personnel to a district in the south after riots saw mobs burn vehicles and pelt stones after a Hindu activist was killed. At least 20 people were injured in the unrest on Monday, after the killing a day earlier of the member of the Hindu nationalist group Bajrang Dal in Shivamogga, Karnataka state. Karnataka, …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan would during his two-day official visit to Russia, which begins from Wednesday, seek to further cement bilateral relations with Moscow. The Foreign Office on Monday announced the prime minister’s trip, saying Mr Khan will visit Russia on Feb 23-24 on the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including …

KABUL: As the country descends into economic crisis due to looming sanctions on the Taliban regime, the United Nation’s children’s agency has announced it will pay a monthly stipend to Afghanistan’s teachers, who have remained unpaid as most schools across the country remained closed since August last year. The payments, of roughly $100 per month, would be paid in local …

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a non-profit journalism group, in the “Suisse Secrets” investigation revealed the names of thousands of notable people and groups from across the world whose dirty money was handled by Credit Suisse. Following are just a few of the names mentioned in the investigation. Sani Abacha   In 2000, Credit Suisse has been accused …

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognised two Moscow-backed rebel regions of Ukraine as independent, in a move that could set off a potentially catastrophic war with Kyiv’s Western-backed government. In an often angry 65-minute televised national address, Putin railed against Russia’s ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine as a failed state and “puppet” of the West, repeatedly suggesting that it is …