02-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ HERAT/ ISLAMABAD: An explosion outside a mosque in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan killed a high-profile pro-Taliban cleric as well as more than a dozen civilians. The blast went off in the Guzargah Mosque in Herat during Friday noon prayers. …

02-09-2022 MOSCOW: Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, was shocked and bewildered by the Ukraine conflict in the months before he died and psychologically crushed in recent years by Moscow’s worsening ties with Kyiv, his interpreter has said. Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked with the late Soviet president for 37 years …

02-09-2022 COLOMBO: Bankrupt Sri Lanka’s deposed former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to end his self-imposed exile in Thailand and return home on Saturday, a top defence official told AFP. The 73-year-old fled the island under military guard in July after a huge crowd stormed his official residence, following months …

02-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KARACHI/ ISLAMABAD/ TEXAS/ BEIJING/ LONDON: While Pakistanis count the cost of one of the country’s worst recorded floods, heavy rain is hitting southwestern China as the Texas city of Dallas recovers from a 10-inch deluge in a single day last month. …

02-09-2022 PHILADELPHIA: US President Joe Biden charged Republican allies of Donald Trump with undermining the country’s democracy and urged voters on Thursday to reject extremism ahead of November’s midterm elections. Biden accused lawmakers and others devoted to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda led by former US President Trump …

01-09-2022 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ GUWAHATI: A private madrassa in India’s Assam was razed over alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), reported Hindustan Times. The outlet reported that this was the third private institute to be demolished for alleged connection …

01-09-2022 VIENNA: Oil prices recovered slightly on Wednesday as data pointed to firm fuel demand in the United States, providing respite after a 5% drop a day earlier on fear of demand suffering from increased China COVID-19 curbs and central bank interest rate hikes. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude …

01-09-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies RIYADH/ ISLAMABAD: Saudi officers thwarted an attempt to smuggle 47 million amphetamine pills into the country, state media reported Wednesday, describing it as the largest ever drug trafficking operation in the kingdom. Two Pakistanis and six Syrians were arrested in a raid after the pills, …

01-09-2022 UNITED NATIONS/ BEIJING: China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity, the outgoing UN human rights chief said in a long-awaited report on Wednesday. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has faced criticism from some …

01-09-2022 COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of about $2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out its worst economic crisis in decades. The agreement, which Reuters first reported on Wednesday, is …