Australia captain Tim Paine says his team have room to improve after crushing Pakistan in their opening Test, hailing the quality of his batsmen and bowlers. The home side comfortably won the first of their two Tests by an innings and five runs inside four days at the Gabba on Sunday, set up by dismissing Pakistan for 240 in the …

LONDON: The UK´s main opposition Labour Party on Tuesday unveiled a special manifesto on race and faith, proposing that children be taught about colonialism, injustice and the British empire. The left-wing party´s pre-election proposals are aimed at reducing the “significant inequalities in employment, education and representation in public life” faced by ethnic minority and faith-based communities. Labour is proposing to …

BUCHAREST: Thousands of sheep were feared dead on Monday a day after a vessel carrying almost 15,000 of them overturned off the Romanian coast, leading to renewed calls for a ban on the controversial sea transport of livestock. The Queen Hind, bound for Saudi Arabia with 14,600 sheep aboard, capsized on Sunday for as yet unknown reasons shortly after leaving …

GENEVA: Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2018, exceeding the average yearly increase of the last decade and reinforcing increasingly damaging weather patterns, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Monday. The UN agency’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin is one of a series of studies to be published ahead of a UN climate change summit being held …

THE HAGUE: The head of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog on Monday defended a report into an alleged chlorine attack in Syria, despite allegations of a cover-up by a whistleblower. Wikileaks published an email from a member of the team that investigated the attack in the town of Douma in April 2018, which accused the body of altering the original …

ANKARA: Turkey began testing on Monday its Russian missile defence system, local media reported, despite repeated calls from the United States that it could lead to sanctions. Planes, including F-16 fighter jets, circled the Murted military base in Ankara province to test the newly acquired S-400 system and train Turkish operators, news agency DHA reported. Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400 in July …

DOHA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said he hoped a dispute between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar would “swiftly” come to an end amid emerging signs of a possible breakthrough in the Gulf crisis. However, he ruled out the closure of a Turkish military camp in Qatar, part of the Riyadh-led bloc’s string of conditions to end the …

TEHRAN: Supporters of Iran’s government poured into central Tehran on Monday for a massive rally to condemn days of “rioting” that the Islamic republic blames on its foreign foes. Waving the Iranian flag and banners that read “Death to America”, they descended on Enghelab (Revolution) Square from all directions. In a shock announcement on Nov 15, Iran raised the price …

WASHINGTON: As Ame­r­i­cans prepare for the Thanksgiving, US President Donald Trump told his nation on Monday that he is once again working on a peace agreement to bring his troops back from Afghanistan. “You know we’re pulling way down in Afghanistan. We’re working on an agreement now with the Taliban. Let’s see what happens,” Mr Trump said in a telephone …

Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Geng Shuang termed United States Assistant Secretary Alice Wells’ recent comments on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) programme as “mere repetition of old slanders against China, the CPEC and the BRI”. During a press briefing on Monday, Geng pointed out that Wells’ claims had swiftly been refuted by the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan as well as top government …