MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that India is playing the role of a spoiler in the ongoing Afghan peace process. “We have already conveyed our concerns to the Afghan government and the international community with evidence,” the minister said while speaking at a corner meeting in his constituency on Sunday. Mr Qureshi claimed that after some steps …

Phil Spector, who revolutionized 1960s pop music with his “Wall of Sound” production technique but who was imprisoned in 2009 for murder, has died at age 81, authorities said Sunday. In his heyday, Spector was the undisputed king of rock ‘n’ roll producers, the “Tycoon of Teen” whose music helped define the soaring optimism of a generation. But the sharp …

OTTERLO: Police in Amsterdam turned a water cannon on hundreds of demonstrators who were taking part in a banned protest on Sunday against the Dutch government and its tough coronavirus lockdown. Police on horseback also moved in to break up the demonstration on a large square ringed by museums, including the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam municipality said riot …

PARIS: Pharma giant Pfizer tried to ease concerns in Europe about deliveries of its coronavirus vaccine as nations across the world doubled down on restrictions to fight the rampaging pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down, with infections surging past 94 million and more than two million deaths, and Europe among the hardest-hit parts of the …

GENEVA: The mysterious “Q” behind the QAnon conspiracy movement, which was instrumental in the storming of the US Capitol, is in fact two people, according to Swiss experts. Swiss startup OrphAnalytics said it had used its algorithm-based machine-learning text analysis software, developed to detect plagiarism, to help crack the mystery behind QAnon. “There are clearly two styles characterising the QAnon …

MOSCOW: Russia’s prison service said opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport after returning from Germany on Sunday. The prison service said he was detained for multiple violations of parole and terms of a suspended prison sentence and would be held in custody until a court makes a decision in his case. Navalny had spent the previous …

SATARA: India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive was still facing some delays on Sunday after it hit a bump on the first day due to glitches in an app used to coordinate the campaign, according to officials in some states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched on Saturday what his government has described as the “world’s largest vaccination programme”. It aims to vaccinate …

WASHINGTON: Joe Biden’s top aide said on Satur­day the incoming president would sign about a dozen executive orders on his first day in office, as police fearing violence from Trump supporters staged a nationwide security operation ahead of the inauguration. Authorities in Washing­ton, where Wednesday’s inaugu­ration will take place, said they arrested a man with a loaded handgun and more …

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said purported WhatsApp conversations of an Indian anchor published in Indian media prove that the Modi government used the Balakot incident for electoral gains — a point he had already revealed to the world in the 2019 UNGA session. The premier was referring to recently emerged transcripts of purported WhatsApp conversations between firebrand Indian anchor Arnab …

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister and Head of the Ehsaas Programme Dr Sania Nishtar said on Sunday that six Nashwonuma Centres would be opened in Kalat and Zhob districts of Balochistan in the first phase of the programme. “The flagship initiative of the government aims to tackle stunting and improve the nutrition of the poorest children through a …