International

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is leaving for Saudi Arabia on Friday (today) on a three-day visit (May 7-9) and a number of bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) are expected to be inked between the two countries during his visit. It is expected that the visit will serve to improve “strained” relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that …

NEW DELHI: India’s leading Urdu scholar and literary critic Shamim Hanafi died here on Thursday, his friends and followers said. He was 81 and the cause of his death was not immediately known. Mr Hanafi was one of the most respected literary critics, playwrights and poets of the subcontinent. A former academic at the Urdu department of Jamia Millia Islamia …

LONDON: Millions set out for polling stations on ‘Super Thursday’ as England, Scotland and Wales cast a bumper set of votes that marked the biggest election outside a general election. It also marked the first post-Brexit, post-Covid-19 election, with new coronavirus prevention protocols in place at polling booths amid fears of a low turnout. Voters elected 129 members to the …

With coronavirus cases still surging to record levels, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing growing pressure to impose a harsh nationwide lockdown amid a debate whether restrictions imposed by individual states are enough. Many medical experts, opposition leaders and some of the Supreme Court judges have suggested the lockdown seems to be the only option with the virus raging in cities and towns, …

Indian police seized over seven kilogrammes (15.4 pounds) of natural uranium and arrested two men in the western Maharashtra state for “illegally possessing” the highly radioactive substance, an authority said on Thursday. According to the anti-terrorism squad in Maharashtra, the confiscated material is worth around $2.9 million and an investigation into the case is under way. “We had received information …

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman in Jeddah, the military’s media affairs wing said on Friday. In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said matters of mutual interest, the regional security situation including developments in the Afghan peace process, bilateral …

ISLAMABAD: Eight human rights bodies in their joint statement have called upon the European Union leaders to raise the issue of fast deteriorating human rights situation in India during their scheduled summit with the Indian leaders on May 8 in Portugal. “The European leaders should press the Indian government to reverse its abusive and discriminatory policies and immediately release all …

PARIS: A child no older than three laid to rest sideways in an earthen grave 78,000 years ago, legs carefully tucked up against its tiny chest, is the earliest known human burial in Africa, researchers reported on Wednesday. The sunken pit, in a cave complex along the coast of Kenya, was bereft of ornaments, offerings or ochre-coloured clay carvings found …

LASHKAR GAH: Ameri­can warplanes were backing Afghan forces against a major Taliban offensive in the south of the country even as the US military pressed on with a troop withdrawal, officials said on Wednesday, but the militants still captured a northern district. Fierce fighting has erupted in southern Helmand province since the weekend, when the US military formally began withdrawing …

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte 200 years after his death on Wednesday on an anniversary that has been dragged into a heated national debate about “cancel culture”. Macron called Napoleon “part of us” and said the relatively modest ceremonies organised in Paris to mark the occasion were an “enlightened commemoration”, not a celebration of his …