LONDON: The Pakistan High Commission in London this week became embroiled in a controversy between a Washington-based asset recovery firm that is owed money by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). According to reports, a high court in the United Kingdom has ordered a debit of $28.7 million from the accounts of the Pakistan High Commission in London over non-payment of …

PARIS: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s father Stanley confirmed plans on Thursday to seek French citizenship as the free movement of Britons in the EU comes to an end under the Brexit pact delivered by his son. Speaking to France’s RTL radio in French, Stanley Johnson said: “It’s not a question of becoming French. If I understand correctly I am French! My …

LOS ANGELES: The man authorities say was the most prolific serial killer in US history, with nearly 60 confirmed victims, died on Wednesday in California. He was 80. Samuel Little, who had diabetes, heart trouble and other ailments, died at a California hospital, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was serving a life sentence for multiple …

SYDNEY: The world began ushering in the New Year on Thursday, with pandemic controls muting celebrations for billions of people eager to bid farewell to a virus-ridden 2020. After a grinding year that has seen at least 1.7 million people die from Covid-19, fresh waves of infection have sparked renewed lockdowns and forced would-be revellers to extend their 2020 tradition …

WASHINGTON: A long-running US-EU aircraft trade dispute flew to new heights as the year drew to a close, as Washington hit France and Germany with new punitive import tariffs. It was the latest retaliation in the 16-year-old conflict over government subsidies for competing aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, and defies recent statements that the sides were close to reaching a …

MADRID: Gibraltar will become part of the Schengen zone to ensure fluidity on its border with Spain in a landmark deal inked just hours before the Brexit deadline, Spain’s top diplomat said on Thursday. Negotiators representing the governments in Madrid, London and Gibraltar have been working around the clock to ink a deal to avoid the creation of a new …

ISLAMABAD: Convinced that police have mishandled the case, a parliamentary committee on Thursday ordered a fresh inquiry into the abduction of a minor Christian girl in Faisalabad. The 13-year old was freed five months after Muslim men allegedly abducted, forcibly converted her to Islam, and then one of them married her. A meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Human …

Pakistan and India on Friday exchanged lists of their nuclear installations and strategic facilities under the terms of an agreement which restricts the two countries from attacking each other’s atomic facilities in case of war, a statement from the Foreign Office said. The annual exchange, which has been conducted on the first day of every new year since 1992, began …

RAWALPINDI / ISLAMABAD: With the sun setting on the tumultuous year of 2020 on Thursday, the management of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) closed its Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) and began tallying the total number of employees availing the facility and generating final settlement and release letters for them. Spokesman for PIA Abdullah Hafeez Khan said in a press release that …

KARACHI: The coronavirus pandemic, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and precautions to prevent its spread and the Covid-19 vaccine were at the fore of the media talk by former adviser to the prime minister on health Dr Zafar Mirza here on Thursday. “These days, any talk about health turns to talk about Covid-19. We have been quite lucky here in Pakistan …