International

24-06-2023 WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden was caught in an awkward moment where he was seen putting his hand on his heart as the Indian national anthem played while standing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday. Modi who is Indian PM since 2014 was welcomed by the President at the …

24-06-2023 BEIJING: On Thursday, Beijing appeared to have experienced its hottest June temperature since records began, with the mercury hitting 41.1 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) at 3:19pm (0719 GMT), according to weather data and local media reports. The Nanjiao weather station in southern Beijing considered a benchmark for temperatures …

24-06-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies MECCA/ ISLAMABAD: Carrying an umbrella and a backpack, a Pakistani student walked over 4,000 km (2,485 miles) to achieve his dream of reaching Mecca on foot ahead of this year’s Hajj. Starting his six-month journey from his hometown of Okara in October 2022, Usman Arshad …

24-06-2023 UNITED NATIONS/ JERUSALEM/ JENIN: The violence in the occupied West Bank “risks spiralling out of control”, according to the United Nations human rights chief who condemned Israel’s use of deadly force in a raid in the Jenin refugee camp that killed at least seven Palestinians, including children. Israeli forces …

24-06-2023 PHILADELPHIA: A stretch of a major US highway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is to reopen after a deadly blaze caused it to collapse and snarl traffic along a key commercial route. The incident on Interstate 95 occurred on June 11 when a tractor-trailer carrying petrol overturned on an offramp. The …

23-06-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: Last week, a retired lieutenant general in India’s army bemoaned the volatile situation in his native Manipur, a violence-wracked state in the north-east of the country. “The state is now ‘stateless’,” tweeted L Nishikanta Singh. “Life and property can be destroyed anytime by …

23-06-2023 Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD/ UNITED NATIONS: It will be “nearly impossible” for the international community to recognize the Taliban government as long as restrictions on women and girls remain in place in Afghanistan, the United Nations envoy to the country and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan …

23-06-2023 JERUSALEM: Thousands of Druze Arab protesters in the occupied Golan Heights were met with Israeli tear gas, sponge-tipped bullets, and a water cannon as they demonstrated against the construction of wind turbines there. The protests and their subsequent quelling by Israeli authorities took place on Wednesday in a region …

23-06-2023 DAMASCUS: A week after an overloaded boat carrying hundreds of refugees and migrants sank off the western coast of Greece, details of those feared dead are emerging. Most of those on board estimates range from 400 to 750 were Pakistanis. Dozens of Egyptians, Syrians and Palestinians also risked their …

23-06-2023 Bureau Report ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has made yet another appeal to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release the $1.1bn tranche, pending since November last year, as the $6.5bn loan program nears its scheduled expiry at the end of June. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met IMF’s managing …