PARIS: The 3.5 trillion tonnes of Greenland’s ice sheet that has melted over the past decade has raised global sea levels by one centimetre and is heightening worldwide flood risks, new research showed on Monday. The ice sheet atop the world’s largest island contains enough frozen water to lift oceans some six metres (20 feet) globally, and extreme melting events …

WASHINGTON: The global death toll from Covid-19 topped five million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems. Together, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Brazil all upper-middle- or high-income countries account for one-eighth of the world’s population but nearly …

LONDON: Britain warned France on Monday it will take action if Paris does not withdraw “unreasonable” threats to impose trade measures in an increasingly acrimonious row over post-Brexit fishing rights. President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that Britain must give ground in the dispute or France will trigger trade reprisals on Tuesday, saying: “The ball is in Britain’s court.” The French …

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has assured the international community that it ‘vigorously’ supports an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan. In a statement to the US media, Pakistani embassy in Washington said that now was the time to stop laying “the blame for every problem in Afghanistan on Pakistan’s doorstep”. In statements to the media, and at congressional hearings, US and Afghan officials …

WASHINGTON: China’s gro­wing military muscle and its drive to end American predominance in the Asia-Pacific is rattling the US defence establishment. American officials see trouble quickly accumulating on multiple fronts — Beijing’s expanding nuclear arsenal, its advances in space, cyber and missile technologies, and threats to Taiwan. The pace at which China is moving is stunning, says Gen John Hyten, …

At least two explosions followed by gunfire hit Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital in Kabul, witnesses and Taliban officials said on Tuesday. Interior ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty said the explosions took place at the entrance of the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital. “Security forces are deployed to the area, there is no information about casualties,” he said on Twitter. …

National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf said on Tuesday that Western countries may have the luxury to disengage from Afghanistan but Pakistan did not have that option. The NSA was addressing a news conference in Islamabad after Pakistan and Uzbekistan signed a Protocol on the Establishment of Joint Security Commission that was followed by the inaugural session of the commission. …

At least 13 people were injured, including four critically, in a blast in Balochistan’s Kharan district on Tuesday, Station House Officer (SHO) Mohammad Qasim said. The four critically injured patients were shifted to Quetta while nine others were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, he said. Qasim said the explosion occurred shortly after a vehicle of security forces passed through …

The Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan was reopened on Tuesday, nearly a month after the Taliban closed it claiming that traders, patients and passengers were “facing difficulties”. The reopening follows an agreement reached between Pakistani and Afghan authorities a day earlier. Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader Qari Mohammad Aslam, who participated in the meeting, said that citizens of …

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is celebrating his 56th birthday with son Aryan Khan and other family members at his farmhouse in Alibaug. According to Indian media, Shah Rukh Khan and his family have arrived at his farmhouse after the release of Aryan from prison on bail recently. The family will celebrate the Dilwale actor’s birthday in Alibaug. Police have also stopped …