ISLAMABAD: For the first time since nuclear tests by arch-rivals India and Pakistan in 1998, India has been reported by the Stockholm Inter­national Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) to possess more nuclear warheads than Pakistan, albeit by a slim margin of two warheads. The report’s findings, released during the Eid holidays, come at a time of heightened concern over the escalating global …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s bid to join the BRICS economic bloc marks the country’s significant strategic intent to position itself alongside the world’s burgeoning and influential economies, besides underscoring its aspiration to be an integral player in the ascendant collective of the Global South. This was stated by Mr Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a former senator and head of Pakistan-China Institute and Pakistan-Africa …

ISLAMABAD: Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) and member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee Liu Jianchao will arrive on Thursday, for a three-day visit (June 20-22) at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. During the visit, Mr Liu will co-chair with Mr Dar the third meeting of the …

PARIS: Nearly 2,000 children die every day from health problems linked to air pollution, which is now the second biggest risk factor for early death worldwide, a report said on Wednesday. Exposure to air pollution contributed to the deaths of 8.1 million people — around 12 per cent of all fatalities — in 2021, according to the report from the US-based Health …

London: In an opinion piece published by The Guardian, Scotland’s former First Minister Humza Yousaf said anti-Muslim sentiment in the United Kingdom and Europe is so mainstream now that “politicians barely bother disguising it”. “I was the first Muslim leader of a Western democracy. And I say Islamophobia has poisoned our politics,” wrote Mr Yousaf, urging leaders to “confront, not appease …

NEW DELHI: A group of senior US lawmakers including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi met on Wednesday with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, sparking heavy criticism from China. The bipartisan group of US lawmakers, led by Congressman Michael McCaul and Pelosi, visited the 88-year-old Buddhist spiritual leader at his home base in the northern Indian hill-town …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said India has no right to object to the references made to Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan-China joint statement issued in Beijing after talks between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on June 8, and reiterated it is an established fact that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognised disputed territory. “It is an …

ISRAELI forces may have repeatedly violated the laws of war and failed to distinguish between civilians and fighters in the Gaza conflict, the UN human rights office said on Wednesday. Separately, the head of a UN inquiry accused the Israeli military of carrying out the “extermination” of Palestinians. In a report on six Israeli attacks that caused many casualties and destroyed civilian …

GAZA STRIP: Israeli air strikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants rocked Gaza on Wednesday, after Israel’s army warned it had readied an offensive against Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement on the country’s northern front. Witnesses and the civil defence agency in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone strikes and shelling killed at …

A batch of toxic illegal alcohol in India has killed at least 34 people with more than 100 others rushed to hospital, Tamil Nadu state officials told reporters on Thursday. The deadly mix of locally brewed arrack drink was laced with poisonous methanol, chief minister M.K. Stalin said, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Stalin said arrests have been made over …