International

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak resisted growing calls on Wednesday for his Conservative party to return millions of pounds to a major donor accused of making racist comments about a high-profile black lawmaker. Businessman Frank Hester, 57, is alleged to have said that Diane Abbott — Britain’s longest-serving black MP — made him “want to hate all black women” …

WASHINGTON: The judge in Donald Trump’s Georgia election subversion trial on Wednesday dismissed three criminal counts against the former US president and three others against co-defendants, a court filing showed on Wednesday, while letting the overall case proceed. Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee decided that allegations by state prosecutors that Trump and his co-defendants tried to get Georgia officials to violate their …

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the US sent troops to Ukraine, it would be considered a significant escalation of the conflict. Putin, speaking just days before a March 15-17 election which is certain to give him another six years in power, said the nuclear war scenario …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan ranks 161st on a list of 191 countries on the UN Human Development Index, scoring 0.544 points, according to a report released on Wednesday. This shows a slight improvement from 2023, when Pakistan was ranked 164th with 0.540 points, which was three rungs below its 2022 ranking. The 2022 report also noted that Pakistan’s HDI rank remained fixed at …

TOKYO: Locals in a city in western Japan have been told not to approach or touch a missing cat that fell into a vat of dangerous chemicals and then scampered off into the night. An employee at a metal plating plant in Fukuyama arrived for work on Monday morning to find feline paw prints leading away from the container, the …

COPENHAGEN: Four humanitarian organisations on Tuesday said they were suing Denmark to get it to stop its weapons exports to Israel. The lawsuit was filed against the national police and the foreign ministry. “Denmark should not be sending weapons to Israel when there is a reasonable suspicion that it is committing war crimes in Gaza,” Tim Whyte, the secretary general …

GUWAHATI: Sporadic protests have erupted in India against a controversial citizenship law that has been criticised for discriminating against Muslims, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government implemented the legislation just days before a general election is announced. Protests broke out in the eastern state of Assam and the southern state of Tamil Nadu late on Monday evening after the implementation was announced, …

WASHINGTON: The United States will send a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $300 million, President Joe Biden’s administration said on Tuesday, the first such move in months as additional funds for Kyiv remain blocked by Republican leaders in Congress. The White House has been scrambling to find ways to send more military assistance given the situation on the …

LONDON: Britain is considering changing the law to stop a foreign state owning a news organisation, government sources said on Tuesday, as it weighs up whether to allow Abu-Dhabi-backed Redbird IMI to buy the Telegraph newspaper. The bid for the politically influential Telegraph has raised questions about the independence of the media and the role of foreign investors acquiring assets that could undermine press …

BUDAPEST: The Hun­ga­rian government on Tuesday rejected US President Joe Biden’s accusation that Prime Minister Viktor Orban was “looking for dictatorship”, summoning the US ambassador over the claim. Relations between the two Nato allied countries have been frosty over the past years, as the United States has frequently criticised Hungary for its close relations with Russia, for holding up Sweden’s …