International

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghan Taliban authorities have overcome the recent row over border fencing by agreeing that further fencing would be done through consensus, a senior official said on Friday. The official, who spoke to a group of journalists on the background, said: “It has been decided at a senior level that fencing-related issues would in future be dealt with through mutual …

TOKYO: It’s a bus, it’s a train, it’s a DMV! The world’s first dual-mode vehicle, equally at home on road and rail, is set to make its public debut on Saturday in the town of Kaiyo in Japan’s Tokushima prefecture. The DMV looks like a minibus and runs on normal rubber tyres on the road. But when it arrives at …

TEHRAN: Three Iranian diplomats have received visas from rival Saudi Arabia allowing them to take up posts at the headquarters of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah, officials said Friday. Shia-majority Iran and the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, both members of the pan-Islamic body, have held several rounds of talks since April aimed at improving relations. In …

NEW YORK: Over 2,000 flights have been cancelled and thousands delayed around the world as the highly infectious Omicron variant disrupts holiday travel. According to tracking website Flightaware.com at 1540 GMT on Friday, a total of 2,118 flights had been cancelled worldwide, including 500 flights originating from or headed to US airports, and over 5,700 delayed. Pilots, flights attendants and …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan supports a comprehensive and equitable accountability in Afghanistan, says the country’s envoy to the United Nations, which recently adopted a resolution to allow humanitarian and financial assistance to Kabul. Although the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted the resolution moved by the United States, some council members suggested holding the Taliban responsible for the current situation in …

The Saudi-led coalition on Saturday launched a “large-scale” assault on Yemen after a projectile killed two people in the kingdom, in the first such deaths in three years blamed on Iran-backed Houthi rebels. A retaliatory coalition airstrike on Yemen killed three people and wounded six others in Ajama, a town northwest of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, Yemeni medics said. Yemen …

PARIS: France started vaccinating children over five and China plunged a city into a strict lockdown on Wednesday as governments scramble to contain fresh virus surges driven by the Omicron variant. The UK meanwhile approved Pfizer’s jab for children aged five and up, while the World Health Organisation warned that getting booster shots did not mean tossing aside safety measures at end-of-year …

KHYBER: King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Habib Foundation and Al-Khidmat Foundation on Wednesday sent 24 trucks loaded mostly with food items to Afghanistan. Sources at the Torkham border said that Saudi Arabia handed over 16 trucks, Habib Foundation five trucks and Al-Khidmat three trucks to Afghan Taliban authorities at the border crossing. Additional assistant commissioner Ashraf Uddin and head of …

RAWALPINDI: Commander of Royal Bahrain Naval Force Rear Admiral Mohammad Yousif Al Asam on Wednesday called on Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa here at GHQ and acknowledged the professionalism of Pakistan armed forces and vowed to enhance cooperation in various fields. During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, security situation in Afghanistan and bilateral cooperation …

WASHINGTON: The group known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, “is based in Afghanistan, conducts operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is composed primarily of former members of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan”, according to the latest US report on terrorism released this week. The US State Department’s annual report estimates that IS-K still has …