International

KABUL: The Taliban said on Sunday they remain committed to peace talks but insisted a “genuine Islamic system” in Afghanistan was the only way to end the war and ensure rights — including for women. Talks between the militants and the Afghan government have been deadlocked for months and violence has surged across the country since May when the US …

BEIJING: China on Sunday announced it had administered its one-billionth shot in the world’s biggest coronavirus inoculation drive. The global death toll from Covid-19 is now more than 3.8 million and many nations are still battling outbreaks, but vaccine drives in some countries are allowing activities that were unthinkable a few months ago. China’s vaccine milestone comes after the number …

LONDON: The colourful former speaker of Britain’s House of Commons John Bercow said he has left the Conservatives to join the opposition Labour Party, saying the country is “sick of lies” under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In an interview with the Observer newspaper published on Sunday, the former MP said the Conservative Party under Johnson was “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even …

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil on Saturday became the second country after the United States to surpass 500,000 Covid-19 deaths as the South American giant grapples with a third wave of the pandemic. “500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic that affects our Brazil and the world,” Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tweeted. The Health Ministry reported 500,800 deaths, including 2,301 in …

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will visit the United Arab Emirates, in the first official ministerial visit since the two nations agreed to normalise ties, his office said on Monday. Israel and the UAE, along with Bahrain, normalised ties in September, and the Jewish state also last year agreed to normalise relations with two other Arab nations, Morocco and Sudan. “Foreign …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden looks forward to welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, to the White House on June 25, the White House announced on Sunday. “The visit will highlight the enduring partnership between the United States and Afghanistan as the military drawdown continues,” the White House said. …

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that once the Kashmir issue is resolved, there will no longer be any need for nuclear deterrents. He said this while speaking to journalist Jonathan Swan on Axios on HBO. “Intelligence analysts say Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal anywhere in the world. Why?” the interviewer questioned. “I don’t know where they’ve come up with this. …

SAO PAULO: Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 500,000 on Saturday as experts warn that the world’s second-deadliest outbreak may worsen due to delayed vaccinations and the government’s refusal to back social distancing measures. Only 11% of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated and epidemiologists warn that, with winter arriving in the southern hemisphere and new variants of the coronavirus circulating, …

In a gruesome act, a youngster killed four members of his family and hid the bodies inside the water tank of his residence, only to be found by police after the suspect’s brother lodged a complaint regarding missing family. The incident occurred in the Malda district of West Bengal where a 19-year old boy killed four of his own family …

HONG KONG: Two executives from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily appeared in court on Saturday on charges of collusion and were denied bail after authorities deployed a sweeping security law to target the newspaper, a scathing critic of Beijing. Chief editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung are accused of colluding with foreign forces to undermine China’s national security over a series …