KARACHI: The US dollar on Thursday hit a 10-month high, crossing the Rs164 mark. The dollar has been appreciating against the rupee since May because of a number of reasons, including the higher current account deficit and import bills. Each month of the second half of the financial year FY21 witnessed a current account deficit but it remained in surplus …

ROME: Stifling heat kept its grip on much of Southern Europe on Thursday, driving people indoors at midday, spoiling crops, triggering drinking water restrictions, turning public libraries into cooling climate shelters and complicating the already difficult challenge firefighters faced battling wildfires. Palermo, in Italy’s Sicily region, registered a record temperature of 48.8 Celsius. The country’s 15 cities received warnings from …

TOKYO: A cargo ship ran aground and broke into two off northern Japan, the coastguard said on Thursday, with the crew of the Panama-flagged vessel taken to safety. Aerial images showed the separated stern of the Crimson Polaris tipped upwards and the other part of the stricken boat listing into the sea. A fuel leak from the ship has spread …

ANKARA: Police in Turkey on Thursday detained 76 people in connection with attacks on homes and businesses believed to be owned by Syrians after a Turkish teenager was killed in a fight with a group of refugees from Syria. A hundreds-strong mob took to the streets of the capital Ankara’s Altindag neighbourhood late on Wednesday, throwing stones at Syrian refugees …

PORTLAND: Volunteers and county employees set up cots and stacked hundreds of bottles of water in an air-conditioned cooling center in a vacant building in Portland, Oregon, one of many such places being set up as the Northwest sees another stretch of sizzling temperatures. Scorching weather also hit other parts of the country this week. The weather service said heat …

ISLAMABAD: Due to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan has decided to reduce its staff at its three consulates in Afghanistan and temporarily suspended some of their operations. The consulates in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat will, however, continue to process online visa applications and function with a minimum strength of staff. Confirming the development, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi …

LONDON: Britain will deploy hundreds of military personnel to Afghanistan to help British nationals and local translators get out of the country, defence secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday as the security situation there worsens. The British embassy in Kabul will be moved to a more secure location and will remain manned by only a core staff. The deployment of …

QUETTA: Security personnel on Thursday clashed with hundreds of Afghans stranded on Pakistan’s side of a commercially vital border crossing with Afghanistan after its closure by the Taliban, officials said. The disturbances broke out after a 56-year-old Afghan traveller died of a heart attack as he waited in the dusty heat to enter Afghanistan via the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing, Arif …

Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which normalised relations a year ago, are looking to Dubai’s Expo world fair in October to boost bilateral trade, which now stands at around $712 million. While the figure, contained in Israeli data, is tiny compared to UAE exports of $24 billion in 2019 to its top destination Saudi Arabia, the Israeli government sees trade with …

WASHINGTON: The United States urged its citizens on Thursday to leave Afghanistan immediately as a US intelligence report predicted that the Afghan capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban in 90 days. The security alert for Americans still in Afghanistan said that the US Embassy in Kabul could soon announce evacuation flights for them but asked them not to delay …