Inter Cast

Russia cut off natural gas to Nato members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, using its most essential export in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine. The move, condemned by European leaders as “blackmail,” marked a dramatic escalation in the economic war of sanctions and countersanctions that has unfolded in parallel to the fighting on the battlefield. The tactic, coming a day after the U.S. and other Western allies vowed to rush more and heavier weapons to Ukraine, could eventually force targeted nations to ration gas and could deal another blow to economies suffering from rising prices. At the same time, it could deprive Russia of badly needed income to fund its war effort. Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks. Just hours before Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom acted, Poland announced a new set ...

Pakistan's deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif will return from London next month after Eid to face the courts, a senior PML-N leader has said, a day after the new government issued a passport to the former three-time premier to come back to his home country. The 72-year-old PML-N supremo, against whom several corruption cases were launched by the government of ex-prime minister Imran Khan, left for London in November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission to go abroad for his treatment. Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif told reporters on Tuesday that the top Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader will return after Eid and lead the rallies in Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported on Wednesday. “If not arrested upon arrival, Nawaz will most likely lead the rallies planned by the PML-N [to counter the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf gatherings]. These were supposed to be led by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz from May 6,” he said. Eid will be celebrated in...

Days after buying Twitter, Elon Musk announced what he wants next. The outspoken Tesla CEO revealed that he would soon buy Coca-Cola to put the 'cocaine back in'. On Tuesday,  Musk bought a 100 per cent stake in Twitter for approx $44 billion , around $54.20 per share, and all of it in cash. The microblogging site had been evaluating Musk’s offer for the past several weeks. Musk previously said Twitter has "extraordinary potential" and he wanted to unlock it all. Twitter's board at first enacted an anti-takeover measure known as a poison pill that could have made a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive. But when Musk outlined the financial commitments he'd lined up to back his offer of $46.5 billion — and no other bidders emerged — the board opened negotiations with him. Read: Elon Musk bought Twitter but who sold it   Earlier this month, Musk purchased a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter. This made him the second-biggest shareholder in the company, the first o...

Fighting in Sudan's troubled Darfur region has killed more than 200 people in recent days, with the UN human rights chief saying she was "appalled" at the spike in violence. Members of the Massalit community and Arab fighters have clashed since Friday in and around the West Darfur state capital El Geneina, the latest ethnic violence in the vast, arid and impoverished region long awash with guns. The fighting, which comes as Sudan grapples with the fallout from a coup six months ago led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has seen hospitals attacked, a police station destroyed and a market burned to the ground, according to the United Nations. At least 213 people have been killed in three days of violence, according to an official toll from the governor of West Darfur state. The clashes have centred on Krink, a locality of nearly 500,000 people some 1,100 kilometres (685 miles) west of Sudan's capital Khartoum. ALSO READ | Sudan group says renewed tribal clashes kill...