International

WASHINGTON: The fast-paced withdrawal of foreign troops, stalled peace talks and rising violence in Afghanistan can undermine Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate the Taliban’s alleged return to Kabul through power-sharing arrangements, says an international report released on Wednesday. The report — “Pakistan: Shoring Up Afghanistan’s Peace Process” — was compiled by the International Crisis Group, a think tank with offices in Washington and …

THE HAGUE: Two former Serbian spy chiefs in Slobodan Milosevic’s regime were convicted on Wednesday after a retrial by a UN court of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1990s Balkans conflict. Jovica Stanisic, 70, the former head of Serbia’s state security service, and his deputy Franko Simatovic, 71, were each sentenced to 12 years in jail for …

WASHINGTON: Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose reputation as a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of a modern military, was unraveled by the long and costly Iraq invasion, died on Tuesday. He was 88. In a statement on Wednesday, Rumsfeld’s family said he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico. Regarded by former colleagues as equally smart …

BERLIN: Most European troops have already pulled out of Afghanistan, quietly withdrawing months before the US-led mission was officially expected to end part of an anticlimactic close to the forever war that risks leaving the country on the brink of civil war. Germany and Italy declared their missions in Afghanistan over on Wednesday and Poland’s last troops returned home, bringing …

Bill Cosby was freed from prison and returned home on Wednesday, less than two hours after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction, saying he never should have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal with a previous district attorney more than 15 years ago. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its split decision after Cosby had served more than …

YANGON: Myanmar authorities released more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters from prisons across the country on Wednesday, including local journalists jailed after reporting critically on the junta’s bloody crackdown. Myanmar has been rocked by massive protests and a brutal military response since the February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her government. More than 880 civilians have been killed …

GENEVA: China was certified as malaria-free on Wednesday by the World Health Organisation, following a 70-year effort to eradicate the mosquito-borne disease. The country reported 30 million cases of the infectious disease annually in the 1940s but has now gone four consecutive years without an indigenous case. “We congratulate the people of China on ridding the country of malaria,” said …

China’s President Xi Jinping on Thursday warned that foreign forces attempting to bully the nation will “get their heads bashed”, and hailed a “new world” created by its people as the ruling Communist Party marked the centenary of its founding. In an hour-long address from Tiananmen Square, Xi pledged to build up China’s military, committed to the “reunification” of Taiwan …

The top US commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday did not rule out conducting air strikes against the Taliban if they pressed on with their campaign of capturing new territory across the violence-wracked country. Fighting has surged across the rugged countryside since early May when the US military began its final withdrawal of troops, with the Taliban claiming to have recently captured …

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to US President Joe Biden’s administration to lift or waive all sanctions on Iran as agreed under a 2015 deal aimed at stopping Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. In a report to the UN Security Council, Guterres also urged the United States to “extend the waivers with regard to the trade in oil with the …