International

DOHA: Qatar on Sunday condemned a corruption investigation by Belgium and the suspension of the Gulf state’s access to the EU parliament, saying it could “negatively” impact ties and natural gas supplies. A statement issued by a Qatari diplomat singled out Belgian authorities for criticism and insisted that “inaccurate” information had been used. Eva Kaili, a Greek MEP, is one …

SEOUL: North Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles on Sunday, Seoul’s military said, days after Pyongyang announced a successful test of a solid-fuel motor for a new weapons system. Military tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply this year as Pyongyang has carried out an unprecedented blitz of weapons tests, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic …

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, on Sunday pressed Democratic Presi­dent Joe Biden to take action to manage an expected wave of asylum seekers at America’s southern border when Covid-era restrictions are set to end this week. US border cities are bracing for an influx of asylum seekers after a US judge in November moved to strike down a …

BEIJING: Streets in major Chinese cities were eerily quiet on Sunday as people stayed home to protect themselves from a surge in Covid-19 cases that has hit urban centres from north to south. China is in the first of an expected three waves of Covid cases this winter, according to the country’s chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou. Further waves will come …

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, on Sunday pressed Democratic Presi­dent Joe Biden to take action to manage an expected wave of asylum seekers at America’s southern border when Covid-era restrictions are set to end this week. US border cities are bracing for an influx of asylum seekers after a US judge in November moved to strike down a …

SAN FRANCISCO: Twit­ter said on Sunday that it would remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames. The move would impact content from platforms like Meta Plat­forms Facebook and Instagram, along with Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post while allowing cross-content posting, Twitter said in a tweet. Former …

TOKYO: The majority of Japanese people do not support raising taxes to fund military expansion, Kyodo reported on Sunday, citing a survey the news agency conducted after the government announced Japan’s biggest military build-up since World War Two. Japan on Friday announced a $320 billion military spending plan to buy missiles capable of striking China and to ready the country …

UNITED NATIONS: No one should have to surrender their human right to migrate in order to find a living wage, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said in a report highlighting the importance of temporary migratory labour programmes. The report, “We wanted workers, but human beings came,” coincided with International Migrants Day on Sunday, zeroes-in on schemes in operation across the …

Lionel Messi and his teammates set off for Argentina with the most coveted prize in football as millions of compatriots waited to welcome them home on Monday and catch a glimpse of the World Cup trophy. In the capital Buenos Aires and throughout the country, millions took to the streets to celebrate Sunday’s remarkable penalty shoot-out victory over France in the …

China officially reported on Monday its first Covid-related deaths since the government began dismantling strict anti-virus controls earlier this month, feeding anxiety that this could be the start of a grim trend as the virus rips through the country Monday’s two deaths were the first to be reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) since December 3, days before Beijing announced …