ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday sought a comprehensive strategy to increase the country’s information technology exports on a priority basis. He was chairing a meeting on the progress of the information technology sector. Prominent information technology experts attended the meeting and gave their proposals. The PM said information technology had a prominent role in the economy. The capacity …

More than 70 Rohingya are “presumed dead or missing” after a boat they were on capsised off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province, the United Nations Hig Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday. The UNHCR said in a joint statement with the International Organisation for Migration that if the death toll was confirmed, it would be the biggest loss …

A top Indian opposition politician appeared in court on Friday to fight his arrest in a case supporters say is aimed at sidelining challengers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before next month’s election. Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Modi in the polls, was detained on Thursday in …

Pakistan on Friday urged Afghanistan to tackle the issue of terrorism as a “shared concern” through “collective efforts” following the attack in Kandahar, according to the Foreign Office (FO). A day ago, a suicide bombing killed three people and wounded 12 others in the Afghan city of Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban authorities that rule the country. There was no immediate …

Kate, Britain’s Princess of Wales, said on Friday she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after tests taken after she had major abdominal surgery in January revealed that cancer had been present. Kate, 42, the wife of heir to the throne Prince William, spent two weeks in hospital in January after undergoing what her office said at the time was successful, planned …

BARCELONA: Tourists arriving at Barcelona’s airport or gazing at its iconic Sagrada Familia basilica will this Easter holiday be met with large signs in English that read: “Drought alert. During your stay, save water”. As the impact of climate change intensifies across southern Europe, Spain’s Mediterranean region of Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, is enduring its worst drought on record. Reservoir levels are …

MARSEILLE: The news editor of a regional French daily was suspended after a front-page headline critical of President Emmanuel Macron, management said on Friday, causing outrage across the newsroom. Macron on Tuesday launched a major operation against drug trafficking in the southern port city of Marseille and elsewhere, saying that gangland battles that last year left dozens dead had made …

MUMBAI: Huge donations by firms under criminal investigation or suspected of being shell companies have been funnelled to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties, new data showed, highlighting the backscratching ties between corporate titans and the government. Last week, India’s election commission published a list detailing buyers of electoral bonds, a contentious funding scheme that has helped Prime Minister Narendra …

KYIV: Russia admitted two years into its invasion of Ukraine on Friday that it was “in a state of war,” as it launched a massive wave of missile and drone attacks on its neighbour’s territory. Russia fired almost 90 missiles and more than 60 Iranian-designed kamikaze drones, damaging dozens of energy facilities including power stations, in what Ukrainian officials said …

Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire at concertgoers with automatic weapons on Friday, killing at least 93 people and injuring 145 more in an attack claimed by Islamic State militants. In the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, gunmen sprayed civilians with bullets just before Soviet-era rock group “Picnic” was to perform to a full house at the 6,200-seat …