HERAT: An Iranian goods train carrying tonnes of agricultural products chugged into a western Afghan province on Thursday as the two countries marked the opening of their first shared railway network. The train route so far links the Iranian city of Khaf with the Afghan town of Rozanak about 150 kilometres away, but is scheduled to be expanded to reach …

WASHINGTON: An effort to stop President Donald Trump’s high-tech weapons deals with the United Arab Emirates fell short on Wednesday in the US Senate as Trump’s fellow Republicans opposed resolutions of disapproval seeking to block the sale of drones and advanced F-35 fighter jets. The Senate voted 50-46 and 49-47, mostly along party lines, to stop consideration of the resolutions, …

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres said on Thursday that she had tested positive for the coronavirus but was feeling fine. The American comedian said on Twitter that all her close contacts had been notified. “I want to let you all know that I tested positive for Covid-19. Fortunately, I’m feeling fine right now,” she said in a Twitter posting. DeGeneres, …

JALALABAD: A female Afghan news anchor and activist was shot dead by assailants on Thursday, her employer said, the second journalist killed in a month in Afghanistan. Malalai Maiwand, in her 20s, was killed along with her driver Mohammad Tahir in Jalalabad as they travelled to work, said Enekaas TV, the private television channel she worked for. The journalist, whose activist …

The Foreign Office on Friday summoned a senior Indian diplomat to record a strong protest on recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) by Indian forces and stressed compliance of the 2003 ceasefire understanding. Due to “indiscriminate and unprovoked firing” by the Indian occupation forces in in Hotspring Sector of the LoC on Dec 9, a 55-year-old woman …

PESHAWAR: Members of opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly postponed their protest against the government for 10 days after a meeting with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan at the CM House here on Thursday. The MPAs had set up a protest camp outside the Chief Minister’s House for the three consecutive days, where leaders of different political parties expressed support …

KOHAT: The police seized a big cache of weapons and related spare parts which were being smuggled in a truck from Parachinar to Peshawar and Punjab via Kohat and arrested three smugglers at Gulshanabad here on Thursday. The weapons included 75 12-bore repeaters, 10 shotguns and spare parts of various arms. DSP headquarters Ijaz Khan Abazai told a press conference …

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reached the Punjab capital from Islamabad to oversee the party’s preparations for the all-important Dec 13 rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) at Minar-i-Pakistan. He has convened a meeting of the party’s Punjab chapter leadership at Bilawal House for today (Friday) to finalise a strategy for mobilising the cadre and making …

LONDON: Britain on Thursday slapped sanctions on The Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh as it widened travel bans and economic sanctions for human rights abuses worldwide. The former dictator, whose election defeat to Adama Barrow in Dec 2016 forced him to flee, was one of three from the West African nation on an updated list targeting 10 people across the …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday asked the secretary Ministry of Climate Change to file a report on the relocation of two Himalayan brown bears to a sanctuary in Jordan. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah was hearing a contempt of court case against the secretary and the chairman of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) for not implementing a …