International

Saudi Arabia announced that it will grant citizenship to talented individuals from different fields for helping the kingdom achieve its Vision 2023 goals. A foreign news agency reported that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has given the green signal. The individuals having expertise and specialization in the religious, medical, scientific, cultural, sports …

BEIJING: Top Communist Party leaders wrapped up a key meeting in Beijing by passing an important resolution on the country’s past, state media said on Thursday, which is expected to cement President Xi Jinping’s grip on power. Xi, the uncontested leader of the world’s most populous nation, has been heading a pivotal plenary of the ruling party’s top figures since …

ISLAM QALA: Iran is sending tens of thousands of Afghan migrants back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan every week despite the threat of famine, aid agencies and witnesses say, with many Afghans alleging they have been mistreated by Iranian authorities. During decades of conflict, millions of Afghans have crossed into their western neighbour seeking to escape violence and a shattered economy. The …

LONDON: The World Health Organisation reported on Wednesday that coronavirus deaths rose by 10pc in Europe in the past week, making it the only world region where both Covid-19 cases and deaths are steadily increasing. It was the sixth consecutive week that the virus has risen across the continent. In its weekly report on the pandemic, the UN health agency …

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 …