International

At least 34 people were killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan today, including 12 pilgrims who had been trying to reach Iran, rescue officials said. Twenty people were killed when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a ravine near the town of Azad Pattan on the border between Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. reports AFP. “22 ...

A bus carrying 43 Indian tourists and crew members plunged into a rain-swollen river in neighbouring Nepal on Friday, killing more than half of those on board, a Nepali armed police spokesperson said. A total of 27 people died and 16 were injured in the accident, said spokesperson Shailendra Thapa, adding that all 41 passengers and two crew were Indian ...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a “bridging proposal” presented by Washington to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and urged Hamas to do the same. Blinken spoke to journalists after a day of meetings with Israeli officials, including a 2-1/2-hour meeting with Netanyahu. The top US diplomat ...

Ansar Ahmed Ullah The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has received an urgent appeal to address the escalating violence in Bangladesh following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent removal. The letter, dated 15 August 15, was sent by Narayan Bhattacharjee on behalf of the Campaign for Religious Minorities in Bangladesh (CPRMB), a UK-based organisation dedicated to combating ...

The Thai king on Sunday formally appointed Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 37-year-old daughter of controversial billionaire ex-premier Thaksin, as Thailand’s new prime minister. Paetongtarn, the kingdom’s youngest ever PM, comes to office after a court sacked the previous premier and disbanded the main opposition party, throwing Thailand’s ever-febrile political scene into a new round of turmoil. She is the third Shinawatra ...

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he hopes to get on well with Russian President Vladimir Putin again if he wins the upcoming presidential election. “I got along with Putin very well, and he respected me,” Trump said in an interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk broadcast on social media platform X, adding that he hoped that ...

Global youth unemployment is at its lowest level for 15 years, the United Nations said Monday, though not all regions have yet recovered from the Covid-19 slump. The number of 15- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is concerning, the UN’s labour agency said, adding that the post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery has not been universal in ...

Hamas on Tuesday named Yahya Sinwar, the man Israel says masterminded the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, as its new political chief following last week’s killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh. The announcement came with the Middle East on edge as it awaited Iran’s retaliation over the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran blames Haniyeh’s death on ...

Kamala Harris was set to announce her running mate Tuesday before the pair head out on a five-day swing through America’s hottest battleground states, just three months out from the presidential election. The US vice president’s campaign has come out of the blocks at a lightning pace since she replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, smashing ...

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday scrapped a plea agreement with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, just two days after the announcement of a deal that reportedly would have taken the death penalty off the table, reports AFP. Agreements with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices announced Wednesday had appeared to have moved their long-running cases toward resolution — but ...