LONDON: European governments are battling to curb coronavirus surges with new controls and increased testing, while trying to avoid the devastating nationwide lockdowns of March and April. Cases climbed rapidly in Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic on Tuesday, raising fears that the death rate could rise. Hospitals in Paris will have most of their intensive care beds …

LASHKAR GAH: Afghan security forces launched a counter offensive in the south against Taliban fighters, officials said on Tuesday, as fighting raged for a third straight day in a major insurgent offensive that has overshadowed peace talks. The Taliban assault on Helmand Province tests the resolve of the government at the start of talks to end the 19-year war, and …

YEREVAN: Armenia and Azerbai­jan accused each other on Tuesday of violating a ceasefire agreed three days ago to quell fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, drawing warnings from international groups of a humanitarian crisis in the region. The Russia-brokered truce is buckling despite mounting calls from world powers to halt the fighting, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Minsk Group …

SRINAGAR: Indian au­­tho­­rities on Tuesday rele­a­sed a top Kashmiri politician from detention more than a year after New Delhi scrapped Indian-controlled Kash­mir’s special status, a move that triggered widespread anger and economic ruin amid a harsh security clampdown. Mehbooba Mufti had been held in detention since August 2019 alongside thousands of politicians and activists after Indian Prime Minister Na­­rendra Modi’s government passed …

Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war, begin unprecedented talks sponsored by the UN and Washington on Wednesday to settle a maritime border dispute and clear the way for hydrocarbon exploration. Following years of US shuttle diplomacy, Lebanon and Israel, this month said they had agreed to begin UN-brokered negotiations, in what Washington hailed a “historic” agreement. The talks, which will …

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday called Pakistan’s re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council an “important diplomatic achievement”, Radio Pakistan reported. In a statement, he said that Pakistan was supported by every region in its re-election while influential and important countries had also backed the country’s bid. He added that the vote vouched for Pakistan’s performance in the council over the …

One of India’s top jewellery retailers has withdrawn an advert featuring an interfaith baby shower after a vicious backlash on social media by Hindu hardliners who said it glorified “love jihad”. Critics of the withdrawal said it exemplified the atmosphere of religious intolerance towards minorities that has grown since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power six years …

g PESHAWAR: Coronavirus has infected lesser number of women and caused lesser deaths among them than men since the outbreak of the pandemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says a report by World Health Organisation. The health experts said that women had less exposure to gatherings than men due to which they didn’t contract the infection more than males. The report of …

KARACHI: Patients reporting at the outpatient departments (OPDs) of public sector hospitals on Tuesday in parts of Sindh had to return home without getting treatment as doctors and paramedical staff boycotted health services in protest, demanding restoration of Covid-19 health risk allowance. The healthcare providers were protesting on a strike call given by the Grand Health Alliance Sindh which is …

k MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet on Tuesday accorded approval to amendments in a law to give protection to the lawful ownership of land. Under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2020, harsh punishment was proposed for the offence of illegal occupation of private or crown land and a mechanism was fixed for early disposal of such cases. …