International

STOCKHOLM: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven resigned on Wednesday, paving the way for the country, a gender-equality champion, to finally have a woman prime minister. Magdalena Andersson, the current finance minister, was elected to replace Lofven as the head of the Social Democratic Party last week, putting her on track to becoming premier if she wins a vote in parliament …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan urged the international community on Wednesday not to allow politics to deny the right to life to the people of Afghanistan. “The Afghan people need massive and unconditional humanitarian assistance from the international community to avoid a major human catastrophe,” said Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram while urging the world body to act now. “Financial liquidity must …

SRINAGAR: India has sent thousands more paramilitary troops into occupied Kashmir, already one of the world’s most militarised zones, after a string of targeted killings in recent weeks, officials said on Wednesday. New Delhi has for decades stationed at least 500,000 soldiers in the occupied valley. “Around 2,500 troops have arrived and they were deployed all over [occupied] Kashmir valley,” Abhiram Pankaj, …

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was busy telling the nation about important revisions to Covid-19 restrictions when an unexpected voice cut in: “mummy “? In a situation familiar to parents worldwide, the leader’s three-year-old daughter Neve had decided everything, even the affairs of state, could wait. “You’re meant to be in bed, darling,” the 41-year-old Kiwi leader says, …

YANGON: Myanmar’s junta has charged a US journalist detained since May with sedition and terrorism, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The military has squeezed the press since taking power in a February coup, arresting dozens of journalists critical of its crackdown on dissent that has killed over 1,200 people, according to a …

GLASGOW: A draft UN climate summit text urged countries on Wednesday to boost their emissions cutting goals by 2022, three years ahead of schedule, after data showed the world was far off track to limit warming to 1.5C. Wednesday’s text was the first indication of where nations are 10 days into the COP26 talks in Glasgow, which host Britain has …

MOSCOW: Russia took the rare step of dispatching two nuclear-capable strategic bombers to patrol Belarusian airspace on Wednesday in a show of support to close ally Belarus at a time when it is locked in a migrant standoff with the European Union. Moscow’s decision to up the ante came as the 27-nation bloc considered sanctions on Wednesday to punish Minsk …

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday that it was crucial for the international community to avoid repeating mistakes of the past and pursue positive engagements in order to avert economic collapse or an all-out civil war from breaking out in Afghanistan,. Addressing the opening session of the two-day meeting of Troika Plus — comprising US, Russia, China and …

WASHINGTON: The United States has refused to give any “specific reaction” to Islamabad’s decision to start a dialogue with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) adding that the two countries still had “alignment of interest” on Afghanistan. US media reports noted that on Monday Pakistan and the TTP agreed on a “complete cease-fire” as the two sides negotiated an end to …

BEIRUT: The United Arab Emirates foreign minister met Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, a sign of improving ties between Assad and a US-allied Arab state that once supported rebels trying to overthrow him. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed is the most senior Emirati dignitary to visit Syria in the decade since the eruption of a …