International

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said the scale of natural disasters that have hit Russia this year is “absolutely unprecedented” as local officials ask for Moscow’s help to tackle fires and floods. A former sceptic of man-made climate change, the Russian leader called on authorities to do everything possible to help Siberians affected by the region’s gigantic wildfires, as …

WASHINGTON: In an Independence Day message, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed the hope to continue to work with Pakistan to advance the Afghan peace process. The top US diplomat also underlined 70 years of partnership between the two countries, hoping that this relationship will continue in years to come. “We continue to collaborate to advance the Afghan peace …

KABUL: The United States spent billions supplying the Afghan military with the tools to defeat the Taliban, but the rapid capitulation of the armed forces means that weaponry is now fuelling the insurgents’ astonishing battlefield successes. “We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasise: all the tools,” US President Joe Biden said when defending his …

Flash floods that have swept through towns in the Turkish Black Sea region have killed 58 people, authorities said on Sunday, in the second natural disaster to strike Turkey this month. The floods brought chaos to northern provinces just as authorities were declaring wildfires had been brought under control after raging through southern coastal regions for two weeks. Forty-eight people died as …

A powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, killing at least 304 people, injuring a minimum of 1,800 others and destroying hundreds of homes. People in the Caribbean island nation rushed into the streets to seek safety and to help rescue those trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes, hotels and other structures. Saturday’s earthquake struck the southwestern part …

Taliban fighters entered the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Sunday and said they were awaiting a peaceful transfer of the city after promising not to take it by force, but amid the uncertainty, panicked workers fled government offices and helicopters landed at the United States Embassy. Three Afghan officials told The Associated Press that the fighters were in the districts of …

ISLAMABAD: The police on Saturday claimed that the DNA test and fingerprints of the accused Zahir Jaffar showed his involvement in the murder of Noor Mukaddam. They said that photogrammetry tests conducted on a video in which Noor Mukaddam was seen making efforts to save her life and being chased by the accused confirmed that it was genuine. The footage had …

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said on Friday it was setting up a new group to trace the origins of the coronavirus, seeking to end what it called “political point scoring” that had hampered investigations. The inability of the WHO to say where and how the virus began spreading has fuelled tensions among its members, particularly between China, where Covid-19 …

SINOP: Emergency workers battled to relieve flood-hit areas of Turkey’s Black Sea region on Friday, as the death toll rose to 27 in the second natural disaster to strike the country this month. The floods, among the worst Turkey has experienced, brought chaos to northern provinces just as authorities were declaring wildfires that raged through southern coastal regions for two …

MANILA: The Philippines will extend a ban on travellers from India, Pakistan and eight other countries to the end of August because of concerns posed by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, the presidential spokesperson said on Friday. Authorities in the Philippines are scrambling to contain a jump in coronavirus cases to a four-month high, with infections staying …