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JALALABAD: A fresh 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit the east of Afghanistan on Tuesday, jolting a region still struggling with the aftermath of a powerful quake at the weekend that killed 1,400 people. The epicentre of the tremor was close to where a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit late Sunday night, devastating remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan. The “quake was felt in the same areas which were affected in Kunar (province) in the first earthquake,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, the disaster management spokesman in the hard-hit province, told AFP. “These aftershocks are constant, but they have not caused any casualties…

US financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. — ReutersA Republican-led committee in the US House of Representatives said Tuesday it had released more than 33,000 pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in prison in 2019, Reuters reported. The disclosure, which included audio recordings from a Florida investigation and video of apparent victim interviews, was presented as a move to end efforts by a bipartisan…

Victoria Beckham addresses insecurity over her looks after motherhoodVictoria Beckham has recently addressed the insecurity over her appearance amid motherhood journey.The former Spice Girls member opened up about her skin condition especially doing the school run for her four children.“I struggled with my skin throughout my entire life,” said the 51-year-old in a new interview with Vogue. While discussing her bad skin, Victoria recalled a time when she “couldn’t put a pin between the acne on my face”. “I know how it feels not to feel confident because of your skin,” continued the fashion designer.Elsewhere in the interview, Victoria disclosed…

BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday that their countries’ ties were at an “unprecedented level”, during talks in Beijing ahead of a massive military parade. Wednesday’s showcase of China’s might has been seized by world leaders as an opportunity to hold rare face-to-face talks, with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un expected to hold summits with both Putin and Xi according to South Korean sources. Xi himself has embarked on a flurry of diplomatic meetings this week, including attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the northern city of Tianjin — a forum…

KHARTOUM: The United Nations said on Tuesday it is working to respond to a devastating landslide in Sudan’s Darfur region that buried an entire mountain village, killing as many as 1,000 people. Heavy rain triggered the disaster on Sunday, flattening the village of Tarasin in the remote Jebel Marra range, the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) faction which controls the area said in a statement, adding that there was only one survivor. “The United Nations and our humanitarian partners are mobilising to provide support to the affected population,” UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan Luca Renda said in a statement. Citing…

PARIS: American artificial intelligence firm OpenAI said on Tuesday it would add parental controls to its chatbot ChatGPT, a week after an American couple said the system encouraged their teenaged son to kill himself. “Within the next month, parents will be able to… link their account with their teen’s account” and “control how ChatGPT responds to their teen with age-appropriate model behavior rules,” the generative AI company said in a blog post. Parents will also receive notifications from ChatGPT “when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress,” OpenAI added. The company had trailed a system…

GENEVA: The cooling La Nina weather phenomenon may return between September and November, but even if it does, temperatures are nonetheless expected to be above average, the United Nations said Tuesday. La Nina is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It brings changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns. Conditions oscillate between La Nina and its opposite El Nino, with neutral conditions in between. Following a brief spell of weak La Nina conditions, neutral conditions have persisted since March, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said. “There is a 55…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to quickly and dramatically reduce crime in Chicago, hinting at sending federal troops into what he branded the “most dangerous city in the world”. “I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, referring to his deployment of National Guard reservists to the US capital beginning last month. “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far,” he said, adding that JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of the state of Illinois where Chicago is located, “needs help…

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) maintained its bullish trend on Tuesday as the KSE-100 index surged 1,004 points, or 0.67%, to 150,975, driven by improved macroeconomic indicators and stock buying in attractive sectors. The market performance reflected investor confidence and a strong momentum across key sectors. Participation remained robust, supported by gains in banking and fertiliser sectors in anticipation of continued economic stability and corporate earnings growth in the coming quarters. Reporting the latest trade numbers, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) announced a trade deficit of $2.88 billion in August, a 9% month-on-month contraction compared with July’s deficit…

LAHORE: Local cement sales of Pakistan’s industry reached 3.097 million tons in August 2025, higher by 10.33% compared to sales of 2.807 million tons in the corresponding month of last year, according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). Exports rose 22.13% as volumes stood at 749,723 tons in August 2025 against 613,857 tons in August 2024. In terms of growth figures, July was far better as the industry registered an increase of 18.61% year-on-year (YoY) in domestic sales and a jump of 84% in exports. Total cement dispatches during August 2025 were calculated at 3.846…