International

Will not leave Pakistan for treatment: Maryam Nawaz


Lahore: Pakistan's deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz said that she will not leave the country to join her father in London for her treatment despite the Imran Khan government's apparent offer to go abroad. "Even if someone (from the government) comes to my home and offers me to go abroad, I will decline...

Myanmar military denies coup, guarantees fresh election


Nay Pyi Taw: Myanmar's military junta guaranteed that it would hold an election and hand over power, denied its ouster of an elected government was a coup or that its leaders were detained and accused protesters of violence and intimidation. The junta's defense of its February 1 seizure of power and arrest of government leader Aung...

NZ to conclude deployment to Afghanistan by May: PM

Post Date: February 17, 2021

Wellington: New Zealand will conclude its deployment of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) to Afghanistan by May 2021, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. "After 20 years of a NZDF presence in Afghanistan, it is now time to conclude our deployment," Ardern said in a statement. "The deployments to Afghanistan have been one of the longest...

Won’t leave Afghanistan before time is right: NATO chief


New Delhi: The Secretary-General of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance does not intend to withdraw troops from Afghanistan "before the time is right". "While no ally wants to stay in Afghanistan longer than necessary, we will not leave before the time is right," Stoltenberg said during a media conference. "Ministers will...

Kremlin ‘interested’ in Elon Musk’s offer to talk to Putin


Moscow: The Kremlin has found SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's proposal to have a chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin on voice-based social network Clubhouse interesting. Talking to reporters, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said that details of the proposal should be considered first. "We want to make sense of it first. Putin himself does not...

Dubai princess says fears for life as held ‘hostage’


London: Daughter of Dubai's powerful ruler who tried to flee the country in 2018 only to be detained by commandos in a boat off India has re-emerged in new videos, saying she doesn't know if she's going to survive this situation. The videos released by the BBC show Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum at a...

France votes on anti-radicalism bill that worries Muslims


Paris: France's National Assembly approved legislation designed mainly to counter a rise in Islamism in towns and cities which the government says threatens national unity. The bill is part of broader French efforts to fight extremism in recent years that gained new urgency after a teacher was beheaded in October and other attacks. President Emmanuel Macron says...

Kim’s wife makes first public appearance in a year

Post Date: February 17, 2021

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s wife, Ri Sol Ju, appeared in state media for the first time in more than a year on Feb 17, joining her husband at a concert during one of the country’s biggest holidays. The official newspaper Rodong Sinmun released photos of the pair at the event to mark the...

N Korea ‘tried to hack’ Pfizer for vaccine info: Reports


Seoul: North Korean hackers tried to break into the computer systems of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in a search for information on Covid-19 vaccine and treatment technology, South Korea's spy agency said, according to reports. The nuclear-armed North has been under self-imposed isolation since closing its borders in January last year to try to protect itself from...