International

BERLIN: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine, after conducting an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kiev. Macron held talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev a day after a five-hour meeting at the Kremlin with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as the West scrambles to …

A hijab-clad student was heckled and jeered at by a mob of Hindutva supporters in India’s Karnataka state on Tuesday while she retaliated by shouting back “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest). Muskan Khan parked her scooter in the parking of her college in Mandya and was subsequently beset by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mob which shouted at her and …

A gas explosion in downtown Abu Dhabi prompted a warning of a possible attack early on Wednesday following a series of recent drone and missile assaults by Yemeni rebels. The US embassy issued a security alert after the blast in a building on Hamdan Street just after midnight sent a fireball into the sky and set off a blaze. But …

ISLAMABAD: In a major shift from the investment regime, Pakistan has decided to exempt Chinese investors from about 37 approvals for investment projects, besides completing prior actions like payments of dues to power producers and creating a revolving fund for future interest payments to the existing investors to perk up investments in phase-II of the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). …

WASHINGTON: The main US health agency continues to place Pakistan among the countries where the chances of catching Covid-19 are low. In its latest update on the pandemic, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) placed Pakistan in level-1, which is its lowest category for getting infected by a disease. The agency places India in level-3, which includes …

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is raising red flags about 33 Chinese companies whose legitimacy it cannot verify, imposing new restrictions on their ability to receive shipments from US exporters and requiring extra diligence from American companies that want to do business with them. The Commerce Department said on Monday that it was adding the companies to what is known as …

HONG KONG: The residents of Hong Kong crowded supermarkets and fresh food markets on Monday to stock up on vegetables, noodles and other necessities after a record number of Covid-19 infections in the city and transport disruptions at the border with mainland China. The city of 7.5 million people reported a record 614 coronavirus cases on Monday, in the biggest …

MOSCOW: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he hoped to make a start towards a de-escalation of tensions over Ukraine, as he began talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Macron flew into Moscow at the start of a week of intense Western diplomacy aimed at easing fears of a Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbour. Sitting across …

LONDON: A detective constable from the Met Police’s counter-terrorism department was cross-examined at the Kingston-upon-Thames court on Monday, as the incitement to viol­e­nce trial against MQM supremo Altaf Hussain entered its second week. The officer informed the court about evidence retrieved during a raid at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s international secretariat at Edgware, London, in 2019. The officer spoke of …

SRINAGAR: An Indian court on Monday gave a Kashmiri freelance journalist two days to appear before it over a police complaint that he had acted against the public interest by sharing information on social media about a militant attack on a policeman. The complaint against Gowhar Nazir Geelani comes days after the editor of web portal Kashmir Walla, Fahad Shah, was arrested for …