CAPE CANAVERAL: SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit on Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musks rapidly expanding company. The astronauts from the US, Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following a 23-hour ride in the same Dragon capsule used by SpaceX’s …

JAKARTA: Southeast Asian leaders will try to persuade Myanmar’s junta to end violence and let in aid at a summit on Saturday, diplomats said, in the first concerted international effort to ease the crisis in the country. Leaders will meet behind closed doors at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the hope of encouraging …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden called on nations to work together on a transition to clean energy on Friday, the second and final day of a climate summit he hosted to rally world ambition to reduce global warming. “Nations that work together to invest in a cleaner economy will reap the rewards for their citizens,” the Democratic president, who took …

ISLAMABAD: Politicisation of Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) could have serious implications for future disarmament efforts, warned a Pakistani diplomat at a webinar on the convention hosted by Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS). Director (Disarmament) at the Foreign Office Ali Sattar, according to a statement issued by the think tank on Friday, said: “Politicisation of Chemical Weapons Convention would undermine …

India’s daily coronavirus death toll passed a new record on Saturday as the government battled to get oxygen supplies to hospitals overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of new daily cases. Queues of Covid-19 patients and their fearful relatives are building up outside hospitals in major cities across India, the new world pandemic hotspot which has now reported nearly one million new …

Indonesia’s navy on Saturday said items were found from a missing submarine, indicating the vessel with 53 crew members had sunk and there was no hope of finding survivors. Navy Chief Yudo Margono said rescuers found several items from the KRI Nanggala 402, which disappeared after its last reported dive on Wednesday off the resort island of Bali, including parts of …

KARACHI: Friday, the first day of the hot spell recently forecast by the Meteorological department saw dry, warm winds blowing across the metropolis for the most part of the day, raising the city’s temperature to 38.5 degrees Celsius. It’s the first hot spell since Ramazan began on April 13. The minimum temperature recorded was 27 degrees Celsius. Relative humidity recorded …

LAHORE: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif on Friday walked free from Kot Lakhpat jail seven months after he was arrested in money laundering and assets beyond means case. With the release of the party president, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said it would more actively play the role of the opposition in and …

• Accountability court seeks compliance report from authorities • Objection petitions filed against some attached properties ISLAMABAD: The accountability court has directed the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as well as the relevant authorities to sell unclaimed shares and properties of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and deposit the proceeds with the state treasury. Accountability Judge Syed Asghar Ali allowed …

ISLAMABAD: Illegal construction in Islamabad should be regularised as this will promote ease of doing business, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) affairs Ali Nawaz Awan said on Friday. In a meeting with the senior management of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Mr Awan highlighted that the CDA management should explore all possible …