MANAMA: Top Gulf Arab officials held a virtual meeting on Sunday to bolster “cooperation” ahead of a summit next month amid efforts to end a rift between a Saudi-led alliance and Qatar. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait took part in the meeting hosted by Manama, while Qatar was represented by its …

BEIRUT: More than 300 Syrian refugees were forced to flee an informal camp in northern Lebanon as a blaze raged through and burnt tents to the ground, UN and Lebanese officials said on Sunday. The fire that began late on Saturday raged for four hours as firefighters tried to put it out, the Lebanese civil defence personnel said. The fire …

KABUL: The next round of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government would be held in Qatar from next month, a top official said on Sunday, despite President Ashraf Ghani’s recent calls for them to be moved home. Peace talks began on September 12 at a luxury hotel in Doha, but negotiations are currently on a break until January …

Stay home, stay safe — that’s the message from Sydney, one of the world’s first major cities to welcome each New Year with a public countdown featuring a fireworks display over its well-known Opera House, to people. The city has banned large gatherings that night amid an outbreak of the coronavirus. Because of swift border closures, lockdowns, widespread testing, social …

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Government ministers on Sun­day said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders were criticising national institutions to save their wealth earned through corruption, but Prime Minister Imran Khan would never give them the National Reconciliation Ordinance-type concessions. Reacting to speeches made by opposition leaders at a public meeting held in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to observe the 13th death anniversary of …

Britain and Turkey are set to sign a free trade deal on Tuesday, the UK trade ministry said on Sunday, the first since Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a new trade agreement with the European Union. The two nations will sign a deal that replicates the existing trading terms between Ankara and London, but British trade minister Liz Truss said that she …

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry on Monday extended a ban on entry to the kingdom by air, land and sea for another week amid concerns over a fast-spreading variant of the new coronavirus, the state news agency SPA reported. Saudi Arabia shut its borders on Monday Dec 21 and suspended international commercial flights on a rolling weekly basis although foreign flights already in the country were allowed …

b ISLAMABAD: With the capital reporting 136 positive cases on Sunday, the district administration is hoping the positivity rate will fall further by up to 1pc in a week. As many as 137 people were infected on Saturday and 123 on Friday. The maximum positivity ratio recorded in November was 10pc, however, the weekly data of that month showed it …

RAWALPINDI: PPP supporters on Sunday gathered at Liaquat Bagh to observe the 13th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. She was assassinated at the same spot in a gun-and-bomb attack on Dec 27, 2007. Despite the harsh cold weather, PPP supporters continued to turn up at the spot to offer Fateha all the day. Two separate functions were …

KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has declared 15 absconding suspects as proclaimed offenders for allegedly masterminding and facilitating an armed attack on the Chinese consulate general in Karachi. The Counter-Terrorism Department booked and arrested Mohammad Aslam, Ahmed Hasnain, Ali Ahmed alias Hashim, Nadir Khan alias Arif Buledi and Abdul Latif — all said to be associated with the banned separatist Baloch …