Category: World

Iran would need oil priced at $194.6 a barrel to balance its budget next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. Hurt by tighter United States sanctions, Iran — a key member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) — is expected to have a fiscal deficit of 4.5 per cent this year […]

Nearly 30 Euro MPs, drawn mainly from extreme right-wing parties, will on Tuesday be the first international delegation to visit India-occupied Kashmir since authorities imposed a security clampdown in August to back the ending of the region’s autonomy. While the Indian government backs the visit, the European parliament and European Union hierarchy have not been […]

United States President Donald Trump on Monday said he could release segments of video from the dramatic US raid to kill the militant Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria. “We may take certain parts of it and release it,” Trump said on departure from Washington to Chicago, where he was due to […]

KABUL: Zalmay Khalil­zad, the US envoy who led talks with the Taliban until negotiations collapsed last month, was in Kabul on Sunday meeting with top Afghan officials including President Ashraf Ghani. His visit comes amid speculation the US is attempting to restart the effort to end America’s longest war, after President Donald Trump last month […]

MOSCOW: A Russian soldier on Friday opened fire on troops at a Siberian military base, killing eight and injuring two, officials said, blaming the attack on a possible “nervous breakdown”. The incident took place at an army base in the Chita region in eastern Siberia during a change of guard. “The serviceman who opened fire […]

ISLAMABAD: Quadrilateral talks on Afghan peace process on Friday called for creation of an environment conducive to negotiating an agreement that could end the conflict that has just entered its 19th year. The participating countries — Pakistan, China, Russia and the United States — that were represented through their senior diplomats at the meeting held […]

WASHINGTON: The United Nations and the United States are both urging India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue, as concerns about tensions in a nuclear-armed region grow. “When you have two nuclear powers that have fought military conflicts under a nuclear umbrella, it is important that all avenues be explored to increase […]

KARACHI: Twitter has blocked nearly a million tweets from accounts that focus on Kashmir at the behest of the Indian government, according to an investigation carried out by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). According to the report published on Friday by the CPJ — an independent organisation working to promote press freedom worldwide — […]

Maria Butina, who served nine months in a United States jail for acting as a Russian government agent, arrived in Moscow on Saturday, a day after her release from prison. Butina arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after leaving Miami, AFP journalists said. She had been held in Florida’s Tallahassee prison. In brief comments to journalists in the […]

Iraqi security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to repel demonstrators on Friday morning who had marched towards government buildings in protest against corruption and economic hardship. The incident marked a renewal of the anti-government protests after security forces killed about 150 people in confronting a round of demonstrations at the start of the […]