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Despite decades of sanctions, Iran has succeeded in developing its missile arsenal, which is larger than that of any other Middle Eastern country including Israel, a Pentagon study said Tuesday. “Iran has an extensive missile development program, and the size and sophistication of its missile force continues to grow despite decades of counterproliferation efforts aimed at curbing its advancement,” the Defense Intelligence Agency said. The study said Iran considered missiles to be a strategic necessity due to the limitations of its air force, which still has some US planes ordered by the pro-Western shah, who was toppled in 1979. “Lacking…

(WASHINGTON) Lawmakers will question an official from the U.S. embassy in Ukraine on Thursday as they seek to learn more about a phone call in which he says he overheard President Donald Trump ask about the status of an “investigation” into a political rival. The public impeachment hearing marks the last scheduled day of marathon sessions by the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee focused on whether Trump wrongfully pressured Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat bidding to face Trump in the 2020 election. David Holmes told lawmakers in closed-door testimony that he heard Trump’s…

(VIENNA) The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran will discuss the discovery of uranium traces at an undeclared site in Tehran next week, the agency’s acting chief said on Thursday, adding that Iran had not provided any more information about the origin of the particles. Reuters first reported in September that the International Atomic Energy Agency found the uranium traces at the site that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew attention to in a speech last year, calling it a “secret atomic warehouse”. Tehran has said the site is a carpet-cleaning facility. Having long declined to comment on the specifics, two…

US President Donald Trump hosted an undisclosed dinner for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook board member Peter Thiel at the White House, it emerged on Wednesday. The company has confirmed the news of the dinner and revealed that it was held in October, international media reported. “As it is normal for a CEO of a major US company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement. It’s not clear why Trump hosted Zuckerberg and Thiel and why was the meeting kept a secret.…

(COLOMBO) Sri Lanka’s newly elected president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday swore in his elder brother, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, as prime minister, cementing the powerful family’s political comeback. The appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa, 74, came hours after the former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe tendered his resignation following the defeat of his party’s candidate in a presidential election to Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the weekend. It is the first time in Sri Lankan history that two siblings have held the two top political positions, although Mahinda is only in charge of a caretaker government until parliamentary elections next year. In a ceremony in…

BEIJING: China has invited top US trade negotiators for a new round of face-to-face talks in Beijing amid continued efforts to strike at least a limited deal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing unnamed sources. The report said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He invited US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a meeting in Beijing, adding that Beijing hopes the round of talks can take place before next Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. US officials have indicated they would be willing to meet in person but have not committed to a date,…

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday called for promoting interdependence among countries for making the world safer and prosperous instead of seeking kinetic solutions of security problems. He was speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day international conference at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI). “The exclusive focus of global and regional powers on the military and security dimensions of what is happening in Asia will be short-sighted. The BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) and its flagship projects like CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor), offer a ray of hope that inclusive and pluralistic solutions would make our…

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser Thursday launched sustainable development report compiled by PowerChina and its research study on 1,320MW Port Qasim Coal-fired Power Plant, established in 2017, under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. He unveiled the plaque along with Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan, Pakistan-China Chairman Institute Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman NA’s Parliamentary Committee on CPEC Sher Ali Arbab and PowerChina President Du Chunguo. Addressing the launching ceremony here, he appreciated the role of Mushahid Hussain and the Chinese envoy for making concerted efforts to further strengthen the bilateral ties between the…

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accepted opposition’s plea that it hear the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding case on a daily basis. The ECP announced that hearings of the case will be held every day, starting November 24. The chief election commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad has also directed the scrutiny committee to wrap up the case quickly, local media reported. On Wednesday, the opposition submitted a letter to the CEC asking for a daily hearing of the case. The letter was signed by all the members of the Rehbar Committee. The funding case was filed in November 2014 by PTI’s founding member Akbar…

(Karachi) Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said that Pakistan condemns the remarks of former Indian general in a talk show supporting rape and death in Kashmir. Addressing a weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Dr Faisal said terrorism and extremism is rising in India. “It is high time for the Indian society to decide as to which way they are embarking upon.” He maintained India should immediately end lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir and restore internet and mobile phone services. He demanded the Indian government to release all the prisoners that were detained illegally. The foreign office spokesperson…