International

YANGON: Ousted Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was hit with two new criminal charges in a court appearance via video link on Monday, a month after a military coup triggered relentless mass protests. Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since being detained on Feb 1, and her appearance in court came as demonstrators again took to …

PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption on Monday and handed a three-year prison sentence, in a ruling that deals a major blow to any lingering political ambitions. The sentence includes two years suspended and the remaining one year would be converted into a non-custodial sentence, meaning it is unlikely Sarkozy will end up behind bars …

JERUSALEM: Israel’s president on Monday formally received the first-ever ambassador from the United Arab Emirates to the Jewish state, following last year’s agreement between the countries to normalise ties. Mohamed Al Khaja, the UAE envoy, arrived in Israel on Monday, delivered his credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at a ceremony in Jerusalem. After greeting Khaja in Arabic, Rivlin said …

WASHINGTON: The US special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, held discussions on Monday with a senior Afghan official in Kabul over ways to accelerate the peace process, before heading to Qatar, where negotiations with Taliban representatives are going on. US-brokered peace talks between the Afghan government and the militant group began in September but progress has slowed down and violence …

JERUSALEM: More than 400 European parliamentarians have urged leaders to use Joe Biden’s new presidency as an opportunity to stop what they term Israel’s “de-facto annexation” of the occupied West Bank. A letter was signed by 400 European politicians from across a range of backgrounds who serve in national legislatures and senates or in the European parliament. Addressed to European …

DUBAI: An Israeli-owned cargo ship that suffered a mysterious explosion in the Gulf of Oman came to Dubai’s port for repairs on Sunday, days after the blast that revived security concerns in Mideast waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran. Journalists saw the hulking Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray sitting at dry dock facilities at Dubai’s Port Rashid. Although the crew was …

MOSCOW: Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a penal colony east of Moscow to serve a term for violating parole, a public commission that monitors detainees’ rights said on Sunday. President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent was sentenced this month to two-and-a-half years at a facility in the Vladimir region, about 200 kilometres east of the capital. He …

SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed missile and drone strikes that targeted Saudi Arabia on Saturday night and threatened more attacks. Houthi fighters have intensified operations against Riyadh as air strikes by the Saudi-led military alliance pound rebel positions in the north of Yemen, in a bid to stop their offensive to seize the government’s last northern stronghold of Marib. …

WASHINGTON: The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has included journalists among essential workers who need to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on priority. The official US health agency has included journalists and other frontline media workers in its 1c category of those essential workers who have “a high risk” of getting infected by this deadly virus because of …

DHAKA: At least 10 people were injured on Sunday as Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets and tear gas during a third day of protests sparked by the death of a prominent writer and government critic in jail. Mushtaq Ahmed, 53, collapsed in a high-security prison and died late on Thursday, 10 months after being arrested under a “digital security” law …