Category: World

KARACHI: Nuclear-armed countries, including India and Pakistan, are increasing the size of their arsenals despite an overall decrease in the number of nuclear warheads, a Stockholm International Peace Rese­a­rch Institute (SIPRI) report has said. The Sweden-based SIPRI launched its latest report on Monday, which assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security. The […]

BRUSSELS: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he was in favour of a broad reform that would cut taxes but also reduce tax evasion, in remarks that may complicate talks with the European Commission over Rome’s growing debt. Conte said he agreed with Deputy Prime Minister and far-right leader Matteo Salvini, who is […]

BASRA: Just weeks ago, US energy giant ExxonMobil looked poised to move ahead with a $53 billion project to boost Iraq’s oil output at its southern fields, a milestone in the company’s ambitions to expand in the country. But now a combination of contractual wrangling and security concerns, heightened by escalating tensions between Iran and […]

At least 30 people died on Friday after a fire swept through a small factory producing matchsticks in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, authorities said. The blaze broke out at midday in the makeshift facility located in a residential area, killing 27 adults and three children, said Riadil Akhir Lubis, head of the provincial disaster mitigation […]

US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about Middle East stability and the oil market, the White House said, after tensions with Iran prompted a rise in oil prices. “The two leaders discussed Saudi Arabia’s critical role in ensuring stability in the Middle East and in the global […]

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will assure India on a visit next week that Washington is not planning to slash visas commonly used by Indian technology workers, an official said on Friday. US has backed internet behemoths and major corporations in opposing India’s orders that all online data be stored within the country, […]

Beijing: Chinese police have rescued over 1,100 women from Southeast Asia who were “sold” as wives last year, authorities said Friday. Seventeen children were also saved in the joint operations with police from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand between July and December, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. More than 1,300 […]

Police in northern England say they have arrested 44 people in connection with allegations of child sex abuse between 1995 and 2002. West Yorkshire Police said in a statement on Friday that 36 men and three women were arrested across the towns of Kirklees, Bradford and Leeds over the last two weeks. Five other men […]

China recently played host to a Taliban delegation as part of efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday. Representatives of the Taliban, who have been fighting for years to expel foreign forces and defeat the US-backed government in Kabul, have been holding talks with US diplomats for months. […]

The leaders of China and North Korea were talking in the North Korean capital on Thursday, with stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington expected to be on the agenda. Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sat down for talks in Pyongyang, China’s official Xinhua news agency said, but provided no details. Earlier, Xi, […]