World

Cairo, May 2: For the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the smell of freshly baked orange biscuits and powdered sugar-dusted cookies typically fills the air in Mona Abubakr's home. But due to higher prices, the Egyptian housewife this year made smaller quantities of the sweet treats, some of which she gives as gifts to relatives and neighbours. The mother of three has also tweaked another tradition

The conflict between Moscow and Kiev, as well as the long-running Ukraine crisis, is a direct result of the West’s push to create a unipolar world, one which involved NATO’s unabated eastward expansion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told China’s Xinhua News Agency in an interview published on Saturday. “The US and NATO have always seen Ukraine as an instrument of containing Russia,” the

Kabul, Apr 19: Three explosions ripped through a boys' school in a Shia-dominated neighborhood of Kabul Tuesday, killing at least 20 students. The death toll is likely to mount, according to Afghan security officials, as cited by media outlets. Local reports and eyewitnesses said a suicide bomber targeted a school in west Kabul’s Dashte Barchi, a predominantly Shia neighborhood. The blast occurred

Islamabad, Apr 17: The conversation that rattled the then Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government in Pakistan took place on March 7 at a farewell lunch for the country’s ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan at his residence in Washington, which is also known as Pakistan House, a media report said on Sunday. Citing diplomatic and official sources, Dawn newspaper reported that a note-taker also

The Ukrainian government is preparing a false-flag attack against a railway station filled with civilian refugees, in order to accuse Russia of war crimes, the Russian military announced on Friday. Moscow cited intelligence to name the target, method, and even point of origin of the impending attack, which it said was patterned after the recent carnage in Kramatorsk. “The Kiev regime is preparing

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Thursday that Russia would deploy nuclear weapons close to the Baltic States and Scandinavia if Finland or Sweden decide to join NATO. Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's security council and president from 2008 to 2012, wrote on Telegram that if the countries joined, this would more than double Russia's land border with NATO members. "Naturally

Islamabad, Apr 11: Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president, was elected unopposed as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan by Parliament on Monday after rival candidate Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party will boycott the voting and staged a walkout. Shehbaz, 70, was the only candidate left in the race after Qureshi's boycott of the

Chinese official media on Sunday sounded upbeat about the prospects of Shehbaz Sharif becoming the new prime minister following the ouster of Imran Khan, saying all-weather ties between China and Pakistan "could be better than under Khan". A new Pakistan government will be formed most likely under Shehbaz, the younger brother of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, after Parliament

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan lost a crucial trust vote in the National Assembly past midnight on Saturday, becoming the first premier in the country’s history to be removed through a no-confidence motion. Khan, 69, was not present in the lower house at the time of voting. His party lawmakers staged a walkout. The joint Opposition - a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious

Russia has condemned the United States' fresh sanctions on two of its largest banks, saying they are a direct blow to the Russian population and ordinary citizens. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov made the remarks on Wednesday, after Washington announced a new round of sanctions against Sberbank and Alfa-Bank over Moscow's military operation in Ukraine. "The administration's