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 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.

Kabul, Apr 19: Three explosions ripped through a boys' school in a Shia-dominated neighborhood of Kabul Tuesday, killing at least 20 students.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.