International

ISLAMABAD: Eight human rights bodies in their joint statement have called upon the European Union leaders to raise the issue of fast deteriorating human rights situation in India during their scheduled summit with the Indian leaders on May 8 in Portugal. “The European leaders should press the Indian government to reverse its abusive and discriminatory policies and immediately release all …

PARIS: A child no older than three laid to rest sideways in an earthen grave 78,000 years ago, legs carefully tucked up against its tiny chest, is the earliest known human burial in Africa, researchers reported on Wednesday. The sunken pit, in a cave complex along the coast of Kenya, was bereft of ornaments, offerings or ochre-coloured clay carvings found …

LASHKAR GAH: Ameri­can warplanes were backing Afghan forces against a major Taliban offensive in the south of the country even as the US military pressed on with a troop withdrawal, officials said on Wednesday, but the militants still captured a northern district. Fierce fighting has erupted in southern Helmand province since the weekend, when the US military formally began withdrawing …

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte 200 years after his death on Wednesday on an anniversary that has been dragged into a heated national debate about “cancel culture”. Macron called Napoleon “part of us” and said the relatively modest ceremonies organised in Paris to mark the occasion were an “enlightened commemoration”, not a celebration of his …

JERUSALEM: Israel’s president chose Yair Lapid, a centrist politician and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest rival, on Wednesday to try to form a new government, but his path to success was still uncertain. Israel’s longest serving leader, Netanyahu, 71, has been fighting to hold onto office through four inconclusive elections since 2019 and corruption allegations that he denies. President Reuven …

BEIJING: Debris from a Chinese rocket that sent part of a planned space station into orbit last week is likely to fall in international waters, China’s Global Times reported on Wednesday, amid concerns it could cause damage on re-entry to Earth. The Long March 5B blasted off from Hainan island on April 29 carrying the Tianhe module, which contains what will become …

GENEVA: Nearly half the countries serving on the UN Human Rights Council have been cited for conducting reprisals against activists, lawyers and others who cooperate with the world body, a study found. A fresh report from the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) analysed hundreds of cases over the past decade where people who assisted United Nations bodies in investigating …

Twenty two Palestinians were wounded in overnight clashes with Israeli police in annexed east Jerusalem, the Red Crescent said on Thursday, as tensions flare over a controversial land rights case. Police confirmed 11 arrests in the latest unrest to rock the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood near Jerusalem’s walled Old City, where land disputes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers have fuelled hostility …

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday threw his support behind waiving intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, bowing to mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other countries, but angering pharmaceutical companies. Biden voiced his support for a waiver — a sharp reversal of the previous US position — in remarks to reporters, followed swiftly by a statement …

India reported a record 412,262 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday and a record 3,980 daily death toll, as a second wave of infections swamps the health system and spreads from cities into the vast countryside. Covid-19 infections in the world’s second most populous nation have surged past 21 million, with a death toll of 230,168, health ministry data show. Government …