Category: World

The US special envoy for Afghan peace, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Thursday discussed developments in the Afghan reconciliation process with Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Ambassador Khalilzad, who arrived in Pakistan earlier today, was accompanied by an interagency delegation representing the departments of defence, state and National […]

Facebook says it has removed hundreds of Russia-linked pages, groups and accounts that it says were part of two big disinformation operations, in its latest effort to fight fake news. The social media company on Thursday said it took action after finding two networks “that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behaviour” on its Facebook and Instagram […]

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces deadlock on Thursday over a new Brexit plan, after narrowly surviving a no-confidence vote sparked by the crushing defeat of her European Union withdrawal deal. With the clock ticking, May has appealed to opposition leaders to meet for cross-party talks before she presents an alternative proposal to parliament on Monday. But […]

Several hundred protesters marched in three cities in southern and eastern Afghanistan to call for a ceasefire and an end to the 17-year war Thursday, the latest action of a movement launched in May 2018. In Kandahar, the southern cradle of the Taliban, and in the eastern cities of Khost and Jalalabad, they marched holding […]

PESHAWAR: Afghan Ambassador Shukrullah Atif Mashal on Tuesday claimed that Kabul and Islamabad had agreed to work out a mechanism for swapping prisoners, who had either completed their prison terms or were granted bail but couldn’t be freed due to certain reasons. Addressing refugees here, the ambassador said the prisoners’ issue had come under discussion […]

DAMASCUS: The new special UN envoy to Syria began his first trip to Damascus on Tuesday, facing the daunting task of rekindling moribund peace talks and succeeding where his three predecessors failed. Geir Pedersen’s visit comes at a time of heightened tension between the top foreign brokers of a conflict that has already left more […]

NEW YORK: One of the questions special counsel Robert Mueller is trying to answer is whether any obstruction by President Donald Trump furthered Moscow’s interests, Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “I know where Mr Mueller’s investigation is going to end up, and it’s not looking good for […]

ISLAMABAD: Senior US official Lisa Curtis on Tuesday opened her visit to Pakistan with meetings amidst reports that the process of engagement with the Taliban for restarting the Afghan peace process had stalled. US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Amb Zalmay Khalilzad, who too was due in Islamabad, could not reach here because of changes […]

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Wednesday that militants who stormed an upmarket hotel complex, killing 14 people, had been “eliminated” after an almost 20-hour siege in which hundreds of civilians were rescued. At least one suicide bomber blew himself up and gunmen engaged security forces in numerous shootouts during the assault on the DusitD2 […]

A journalist for Iran’s English-language Press TV has been arrested in the United States, the news channel said on Wednesday. US-born Marzieh Hashemi was arrested on arrival at St Louis Lambert International Airport on Sunday, according to family and friends cited by Press TV. “The US officials have so far refused to provide any reasons […]