Category: World

GAZA CITY: Israel said on Friday its aircraft had struck dozens of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight in response to rockets from the Palestinian enclave, including rare fire toward its economic capital Tel Aviv. The escalation followed weeks of growing tensions and came at an especially sensitive time ahead of Israel’s April 9 […]

WASHINGTON: Differences between the US and Afghan governments over the peace talks became public this week after a senior Afghan official criticised Washington for talking to the Taliban while the Trump administration summoned him to the State Department to convey its displeasure. “Under Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale summoned Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah […]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Friday renewed their resolve to intensify their cooperation in counterterrorism and other aspects of bilateral relationship. This was the upshot of a telephonic conversation between Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi. The telephonic contact followed last week’s conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Hassan […]

The gunman who killed 40 worshippers in two New Zealand mosques on Friday was a right-wing “terrorist” with Australian citizenship, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. “We stand here and condemn absolutely the attack that occurred today by an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist,” Morrison told a press conference. He confirmed media reports that the gunman, who identified himself […]

A “right-wing extremist” armed with semi-automatic weapons rampaged through two mosques in the quiet New Zealand city of Christchurch during afternoon prayers on Friday, killing 49 worshippers and wounding dozens more. The attack, thought to be the deadliest against Muslims in the West in modern times, was dubbed as ‘terrorism’ by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, […]

North Korea is considering suspending denuclearisation talks with Washington after the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement, one of its top diplomats said on Friday. The warning came amid concerns over the North’s satellite rocket launch site, where some rebuilding activity has been observed in recent weeks, triggering […]

In a stalemate over Brexit, British politicians have chosen to delay it. After weeks of political gridlock, British Parliament voted on Thursday to seek to postpone the country’s departure from the European Union, a move that will likely avert a chaotic withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29. With Brexit due in 15 […]

KABUL: The Taliban political chief, who headed the militants’ delegation during the most recent round of peace talks with the United States, said on Thursday that he was optimistic and assured Afghans that they had no reason to fear a settlement. The latest round of talks in Qatar lasted 16 days and finished on Tuesday, […]

WASHINGTON: The United States has assured India that it remains committed to strengthening bilateral civil nuclear cooperation with New Delhi and wants to build six nuclear power plants in the country. The United States reiterated this assurance in a joint statement issued after the 9th round of the US-India Strategic Security Dialogue, held in Washington […]

WASHINGTON: Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan denied on Thursday reports that the United States has a “cost-plus-50 percent” formula for allies to pay for the US military presence on their soil. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that President Donald Trump is pushing the formula as a basis for Germany, Japan and other allies to compensate […]