International

LAHORE: Indian singer and actor Gippy Grewal was barred from entering Pakistan through Wagah Border on Friday as the Indian immigration authorities reportedly stopped him at the Atari border on Friday. According to sources in the Evacuee Propriety Trust Board, arrangements were in place to receive the singer at the border as he was scheduled to visit Kartarpur. “He was …

GENEVA: Pakistan has rejected as dubious India’s claims about its “impeccable” disarmament record, saying New Delhi is solely responsible for pioneering nuclear proliferation in South Asia that escalated tensions in the region and beyond. “It is India which dealt a death blow to non-proliferation norms by conducting its first nuclear test in 1974, followed by additional nuclear tests in 1998,” …

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the United States and Nato had not addressed Russia’s main security demands in their standoff over Ukraine but that Moscow was ready to keep talking. Putin offered his first reaction to the US and Nato responses to Russia’s demands in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron after weeks of personal public …

ADEN: At least five people were killed and 34 injured in what Yemeni-government media said was a Houthi missile strike on Marib city on Wednesday night, state news agency SABA said on Friday. A resident and a medical source said a missile on Wednesday had fallen next to a military building in the al-Matar area. Marib city is the Yemeni government’s last …

The Pakistan High Commission in India on Friday issued a visa to an Indian senior citizen, allowing him to meet his family members in Pakistan, with whom he was separated 74 years ago due to Partition in 1947. “Today, Pakistan High Commission issues visa to Sika Khan to visit his brother, Mohammed Siddique, and other family members in Pakistan,” the …

A high-level inter-ministerial delegation led by National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks on bilateral matters of mutual interest, focusing on Pakistan’s efforts to avert a humanitarian crisis in the country. The NSA and his delegation were received by Nooruddin Azizi, the acting minister for commerce and industry, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, according …

WASHINGTON: The Modi government’s public mischaracterisation of the February 2019 Balakot air strike raises questions about India’s ability to deal with an exceptionally dangerous regional situation, warns a recently released research paper. The paper — “Strategic Implications of India’s liberalism and Democratic Erosion” — argues that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “India’s commitment to democracy is increasingly in doubt” …

Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday condemned a rocket attack against Baghdad airport that took place the previous day as an act that seeks to “destabilise” Iraq. Six rockets were fired on Friday at the Iraqi capital’s airport, causing damage to one runway and two civilian planes but no casualties. It was the latest in a string of attacks that the US blames …

President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday threatened Turkish media with reprisals if they disseminated content that damaged the country’s core values, in a move that might be a prelude to further censorship in the sector. In a notice published in the Official Gazette, he said measures were needed to protect Turkey’s “national culture” and prevent its children’s development “from being adversely affected …

A two-lane bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed on Friday hours ahead of a visit by US President Joe Biden to the Pennsylvania city, a dramatic example of the urgency behind his drive to rebuild the United States’ creaky infrastructure. Ten people sustained injuries, all of them minor, when the snow-covered span collapsed into a wooded gully at about 6am (1100 GMT), …