BERLIN: The US ambassador to Germany launched a scathing attack on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government on Thursday for its reluctance to join a naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Europe’s biggest economy must assume more global responsibility.Relations between the United States and Germany have soured since US President Donald Trump took office, due…
JAKARTA: Indonesia is investigating a report that a pregnant Indonesian woman who had joined Daesh died after allegedly being beaten and tortured in a refugee camp in Syria, a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry said.Hundreds of Indonesians are believed to have gone to join Daesh and those who survived the conflict are mostly being…
US watching Tehran ‘very closely’ after renewing waivers for Iran civil nuclear projects WASHINGTON: The United States said Wednesday it was extending waivers for three civilian nuclear projects in Iran, despite Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement.“This is a short 90 day extension,” said White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, a champion of…
HERAT, Afghanistan: Dozens of passengers, mainly women and children, were killed in western Afghanistan early Wednesday when the bus they were traveling in hit a roadside bomb, officials said.The attack, which came one day after the United Nations said civilians are being killed and wounded at a “shocking” level in Afghanistan’s war, occurred around 6:00…
HERAT, Afghanistan: Dozens of passengers, mainly women and children, were killed in western Afghanistan early Wednesday when the bus they were traveling in hit a roadside bomb, officials said.The attack, which came one day after the United Nations said civilians are being killed and wounded at a “shocking” level in Afghanistan’s war, occurred around 6:00…
VANCOUVER, British Columbia: Canadian police said Tuesday they have pulled out of a remote northern town after an intensive search turned up no sign of two fugitive teenagers suspected of killing three people — a college professor, a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police used dogs and drones, helicopters, boats…
MOSCOW: Gigantic forest fires have regularly raged through the vast expanses of Russia’s Siberia, but the magnitude of this year’s blazes has reached an exceptional level with fears of a long-term impact on the environment. As fires sweep across millions of hectares enveloping entire cities in black smoke and noxious fumes, environmentalists warn of a…
KABUL: At least 3,812 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in the first half of 2019 in the war against Islamist militant groups, including a large increase in the number of casualties caused by government and NATO-led troops, a UN report said on Tuesday.The latest casualty figures were released as talks between the Taliban and…
KABUL: At least 3,812 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in the first half of 2019 in the war against Islamist militant groups, including a large increase in the number of casualties caused by government and NATO-led troops, a UN report said on Tuesday.The latest casualty figures were released as talks between the Taliban and…
CANBERRA, Australia: Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Australia’s Parliament House on Monday, saying they wanted to highlight the uncertain futures of many refugees since the government replaced permanent protection visas with temporary visas.The protesters were from Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Somalia and included Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Most were in Australia on three-year visas…
CANBERRA, Australia: Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Australia’s Parliament House on Monday, saying they wanted to highlight the uncertain futures of many refugees since the government replaced permanent protection visas with temporary visas.The protesters were from Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Somalia and included Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Most were in Australia on three-year visas…
CANBERRA, Australia: Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Australia’s Parliament House on Monday, saying they wanted to highlight the uncertain futures of many refugees since the government replaced permanent protection visas with temporary visas.The protesters were from Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Somalia and included Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Most were in Australia on three-year visas…
SRINAGAR: Tensions in Indian-administered Kashmir rose Sunday over the weekend deployment of at least 10,000 paramilitary troops to the troubled region despite authorities’ assertions the move was routine.India maintains a deployment of 500,000 soldiers in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region, which has been divided between the South Asian nation and Pakistan since their split in 1947.The…
PAHALGAM, India: India is hailing a Hindu pilgrimage to a holy cave high in the snow-capped mountains of contested Kashmir as an example of communal harmony, in a region where the Muslim-majority population is overwhelmingly hostile to its rule.India and arch-rival Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, and came close to a third in…
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump was hit with new accusations of racism Saturday after he attacked a prominent African-American lawmaker and branded the majority black city of Baltimore an “infested mess.”Trump’s outburst came in a series of sharply worded tweets aimed at Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings — a high-profile critic of Trump’s administration whose district…
WASHINGTON: The warnings were unambiguous, and now so is the retreat: after threatening to hit Turkey with sanctions for buying a Russian missile defense system, the Trump administration is looking for a way to avoid doing so. Theoretically the sanctions were to be automatic, mandated by Congress, if NATO member Turkey opted to buy the…
ROME: A young American tourist confessed overnight to the murder of an Italian policeman probing a theft at a tony neighborhood near the Vatican, Italian media said Saturday.Hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called for “hard labor for life ... for these bastards” amid first reports the suspects were North African.“The suspects were filmed by surveillance…
GLENTIES, Ireland: The question of the unification of Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland will inevitably arise if Britain leaves the European Union without a divorce deal on Oct. 31, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said. He also warned that a so-called hard Brexit could undermine Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom. His comments on Friday…
MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed a measure that would have ended companies’ practice of hiring workers on short-term contracts, his spokesman said on Friday, reneging on a campaign promise that helped put him in office.Philippine law lets employers hire workers to meet demand at peak times by using contracts that run five months,…
LONDON: Flights were being delayed at Britain's two busiest airports, London's Heathrow and Gatwick, following technical problems at the main air traffic control centre for southern England on Friday.The outage added to travel chaos in London, with commuter trains impacted by a summer heatwave and the Eurostar rail link to France halted by a power…
