International

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday emphasised the need to ensure equitable vaccine distribution to all countries, saying the Covid-19 challenge couldn’t be surmounted without this measure. Addressing a virtual meeting of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM), hosted by Azerbaijan, he said we must urgently mobilise financial resources to recover from Covid-19 and help developing countries get back on the path …

GENEVA: The UN rights chief called on Monday for countries to dismantle systemic racism and to acknowledge and provide “reparatory justice” for past wrongs like slavery and colonialism. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet described how deeply-embedded racism against Africans and people of African descent continues to affect all aspects of their lives. Presenting a report called …

AMMAN: A Jordanian court on Monday sentenced two former officials to 15 years in jail after finding them guilty of a coup plot that sparked a rare crisis in a kingdom seen as a pillar of stability in the region. Former royal court chief Bassem Awadallah and an ex-envoy to Saudi Arabia, Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, had been convicted of …

The Taliban on Tuesday warned Turkey against extending its presence in the country when US-led forces leave the country, insisting the decision was “reprehensible”. “The decision … is ill-advised, a violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity and against our national interests,” the group said in a statement, days after Turkey promised to provide troops to protect Kabul airport when …

ISLAMABAD: The European Union has announced renewed support for those most in need in Iran and Pakistan with 22 million euros in humanitarian aid. The package, announced from the EU headquarters in Brussels on Monday, will assist those hit by man-made crises, Covid-19 pandemic and climate-induced and other natural disasters in the region. Of the 22 million euros, 7m euros …

BEIJING: China’s military said it “drove away” a US warship that illegally entered Chinese waters near the Paracel Islands on Monday, the anniversary of an international court ruling that held Beijing had no claim over the South China Sea. The USS Benfold entered the waters without China’s approval, seriously violating its sovereignty and undermining the stability of the South China …

BANGKOK: More than 10 million people were placed under fresh Covid-19 restrictions and a curfew in the Thai capital on Monday, as the kingdom battled a surge of cases worsened by the highly infectious Alpha and Delta variants. Thailand has so far recorded more than 345,000 cases and 2,791 deaths — with the bulk of them coming in this latest …

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa said on Monday it was deploying troops to its two most densely populated provinces after unrest sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma led to six deaths and widespread looting. Overwhelmed police are facing mobs who have ransacked stores, carting away anything from boxes of alcohol to beds, refrigerators and bath tubs. Six people have died, …

NASIRIYAH: At least 35 people died in a fire in the Covid isolation ward of a hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Monday. “The death toll from the fire that ripped through the Covid isolation ward in Nasiriyah stands at 35, with five wounded, including two in critical condition,” Haydar al Zamili, a spokesman for the local …

The death toll from a catastrophic blaze that erupted at a coronavirus hospital ward in southern Iraq the previous day rose to 64 on Tuesday, Iraqi medical officials said. Two health officials said more than 100 people were also injured in the fire that torched the coronavirus ward of al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah on Monday. Anguished relatives were …