International

MUNICH: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday blasted the US reaction to what Washington has called a Chinese spy balloon as “hysterical and absurd”, in uncharacteristically strong remarks against the top Western power. Addressing a gathering of world leaders at the Munich Security Con­f­erence, Wang said President Joe Biden’s administration has a “misguided” perception of Beijing and accused the …

ADDIS ABABA: African countries are getting a raw deal from the international financial system which charges them “extortionate” interest rates, the UN chief said on Saturday, as he announced $250 million in crisis funding, including for famine risk on the continent. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants far-reaching reforms to the structure of international finance to serve the needs …

The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 on Sunday as thousands of people remained missing a week after the storm struck the country’s North Island. The cyclone hit the island’s northernmost region on Feb 12 and tracked down the east coast, inflicting widespread devastation. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called Gabrielle New Zealand’s biggest natural …

ADDIS ABABA: As African leaders gathered on Saturday in the Ethiopian capital for the two-day African Union (AU) summit, aiming to jumpstart a faltering trade deal and focusing on challenges of armed conflict and food crisis, an Israeli diplomat was expelled out of the AU assembly. An AU official told AFP that the diplomat who was “asked to leave” had not been …

North Korea said on Sunday it had fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the day before in a “sudden launching drill” that confirmed its readiness for a “mobile and mighty counterattack” against hostile forces. North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off Japan’s west coast on Saturday afternoon after warning of a strong response to upcoming military drills …

Survivors were still being dug out of the rubble in earthquake-hit Turkiye, but for many grieving families, their only hope is that the remains of their loved ones will be found so that they can mourn at their grave site. “Would you pray to find a dead body? We do … to deliver the body to the family,” said bulldozer …

TEHRAN: Protests rocked Iran again overnight after a seeming slowdown in recent weeks, with marchers calling for the overthrow of the government, online video posts purportedly showed on Friday. The marches in numerous cities including Tehran that began on Thursday evening and went on into the night, marked 40 days since the execution of two protesters last month.     …

A gunman killed six people in the southern US state of Mississippi on Friday, prompting President Joe Biden to call again for tightened gun restrictions only days after he pleaded for action following a deadly university shooting. Police in Mississippi said a man shot and killed a person at a store in the small town of Arkabutla, then went to …

UNITED NATIONS: “Pakistan’s national security is linked with its food security, which in turn is directly linked with water security,” argued Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senator Faisal Saleem Rahman as parliamentarians from more than 60 countries gathered at the UN headquarters to discuss a major global issue — water scarcity. The two-day event, held in New York this week, was a joint …

CAIRO: At least 53 civilians were killed in an attack in Syria’s central desert province of Homs, state media reported on Friday, blaming the militant Islamic State group. US Central Command earlier said an IS leader was killed and four US troops were wounded in a US helicopter raid in northeast Syria. It said a raid the previous day targeted …