BEIJING — At least 46 people were reported killed and 16 missing in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown. The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding […]
BEIJING — Seven people have been killed in a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that jolted Luding County in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday, local authorities said. Damage to the roads, telecommunications and houses is being checked, said the information office of the people’s government of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The prefecture has dispatched over 600 […]
HERAT — An explosion at a mosque in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan killed a high-profile pro-Taliban scholar as well as more than a dozen civilians. “Eighteen people were martyred in the incident and 23 others were wounded,” Hameedullah Motawakel, spokesman for the governor of Herat province, told reporters. The blast went off […]
WASHINGTON — As Pakistan’s inflation, which just hit a 47-year-high in August at over 27 per cent, is on an upward curve, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned against protests and instability in the country. “High food and fuel prices could prompt social protest and instability,” The News quoted the IMF as saying in […]
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Thursday said that there was no proposal under consideration currently to allow import of vegetables from India, amid growing calls for opening trade routes with the neighbouring country as prices of vegetables and fruits have spiked due to the devastating floods. “We are in touch with countries in the […]
KABUL — Two persons were killed and three others injured in a blast that rocked Police District 17 of Afghan capital Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said. ‘A Toyota Corolla car, carrying explosive device, exploded in Police District 17 in today’s afternoon, killing two countrymen and injuring three others,’ Nafi added on his […]
ISLAMABAD — At least 6,50,000 pregnant women in the flood-hit regions of Pakistan urgently need care to deal with the unprecedented natural calamity that has left more than 1,100 persons dead and affected over 33 million others, according to an UN agency. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also warned that there was an increased […]
ISLAMABAD — The death toll in Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding has increased to 1,162 as the cash-strapped country struggles to rescue and care for millions of people displaced by the surging waters. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the victims included 384 children and 231 women, and the death toll is expected to further increase […]
UNITED NATIONS — Pakistan’s spokesperson has said that although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tweeted a message of sympathy for the floods ravaging his country, he does not expect the disaster to lead to better relations with India while it is “logical” in these circumstances for countries to “set aside other considerations and to […]
ISLAMABAD — A huge relief operation was under way Monday and international aid began trickling in as Pakistan struggled to deal with monsoon flooding that has affected more than 33 million people. Officials said 1,061 people have died since June when the seasonal rains began, but the final toll could be higher as hundreds of […]