ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to effective implementation of the GSP Plus-related international conventions. The assurance was given by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to EU Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia, led by Nicola Procaccini, which called on him here on Wednesday. The foreign minister said the EU’s GSP+ facility to Pakistan had been …

WASHINGTON: Pakistan may soon send a new envoy to Washington as the country’s current ambassador, Asad Majeed Khan, will soon complete his tenure, media reports and diplomatic sources say. The reports say that Islamabad has already started the selection process and the 27th president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan, tops the list of candidates. It is interesting …

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Thursday said that the chief of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Saad Rizvi, had insisted on the closure of the French embassy in his talks with the interior minister. Addressing a ceremony in Lahore, the interior minister said: “[Contrary to what] one person — who is very respectable and is a major religious figure from …

WASHINGTON: China is expanding its nuclear arsenal much more quickly than anticipated, narrowing the gap with the United States, the Pentagon said in a report published on Wednesday. China could have 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, and could top 1,000 by 2030 — an arsenal two-and-a-half times the size of what the Pentagon predicted only a year ago, according …

WASHINGTON: US law enforcement and security agencies believe domestic extremists, notably white supremacists, pose a violent threat in the United States similar to that of the militant Islamic State group, top US security officials told Congress on Wednesday. Concern about racially motivated domestic extremists had prompted the FBI to elevate the threat to a level equal with that posed by …

United States authorities on Wednesday put the Israeli maker of the Pegasus spyware which was at the centre of a scandal over surveillance of journalists and officials on a blacklist of restricted companies. The company, NSO, was engulfed in controversy over reports that tens of thousands of human rights activists, journalists, politicians and business executives worldwide were listed as potential targets of …

Emirates is to start daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv from December 6, the airline announced on Thursday, in the latest sign of deepening relations since the UAE and Israel normalised ties in September last year. The Dubai-based carrier, one of the largest in the world, said the new service would also link Israel seamlessly with its global route network. Low-cost …

An independent Pentagon review has concluded that the US drone strike that killed innocent Kabul civilians and children in the final days of the Afghanistan war was not caused by misconduct or negligence, and it doesn’t recommend any disciplinary action. The review, done by US Air Force Lt Gen Sami Said, found there were breakdowns in communication and in the process of …

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday decided to allow inbound air traffic at full quantum from Nov 10, but retained five countries in category C. Meanwhile, Covid-19 claimed 11 lives and infected 561 more people on Wednesday. In another development, the World Health Organisation (WHO) allowed emergency use of another vaccine, taking the number of validated …

ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of rising prices of flour and sugar, the federal government on Wednesday renewed its demand that the Sindh government should expedite daily release of wheat for stabilising the flour price. The PTI-led federal government has been critical of the provincial government for its failure to arrest rising trends in flour and sugar prices. The federal government’s orders …