International

YANGON: Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing was a teenage grocery store worker in Myanmar’s sparse and isolated capital until less than two weeks ago, when a gunshot turned her into a national symbol of resistance. The death of the young anti-coup protester has sent a ripple of grief through the country, days after a bullet struck her in the head during …

GENEVA: Dubai’s royal family insisted on Friday that Sheikha Latifa was being “cared for at home” after the United Nations demanded proof that she was still alive following “disturbing” footage aired this week. The UN Human Rights Office said it had asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence after the BBC published video shot by the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed …

WASHINGTON: A US federal judge sentenced an American venture capitalist of Pakistan origin to 12 years in prison for falsifying records to hide his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level US officials. Imaad Zuberi, a California resident, was also fined $1.75 million and ordered to pay $15.7 million in restitution. In December 2016, Mr Zuberi had donated $900,000 …

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday announced Prime Minister Imran Khan’s two-day visit to Sri Lanka that has been hit by a controversy over the cancellation of his planned speech to the country’s parliament. A statement issued by the Foreign Office said that Mr Khan would visit Sri Lanka from Feb 23 to 24 on the invitation of Sri Lankan Prime Minister …

LONDON: A group of Uber drivers are entitled to worker rights such as the minimum wage, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday in a blow to the ride-hailing service that has ramifications for millions of others in the gig economy. In a case led by two former Uber drivers, a London employment tribunal ruled in 2016 that they were due …

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden declared on Friday the “transatlantic alliance is back” in a powerful speech seeking to re-establish the United States as leader of the West against what he called a global assault on democracy. The address to the annual Munich Security Conference — held by video link because of the pandemic — dovetailed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s …

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday re-emphasised Pakistan’s commitment to Afghan peace process. He was talking to US Centcom Commander Gen Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., who called on him at the General Headquarters. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted Gen Bajwa as having told Gen McKenzie that “Pakistan is committed to efforts for peace …

SRINAGAR: A Kashmir freedom fighter gunned down two policemen on a busy street in the disputed territory’s main city Srinagar on Friday, the latest in a string of deadly attacks around a visit by 24 foreign ambassadors. In total, the surge in violence left three police officers and three freedom fighters dead, with the latest killings coming just hours after …

Three separate explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at least five people and wounded two others, a police official said, amid a surge in violence in the war-torn country. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said the first two explosions took place 15 minutes apart and a third targeting a police vehicle took place two hours later. No group has …

UNITED NATIONS: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi urged the international community on Thursday to act immediately to stop state-sponsored terrorism and religious discrimination in South Asia. In a virtual address to a United Nations meeting in New York, the foreign minister highlighted the hateful political rhetoric and incitement to violence against vulnerable ethnic and religious groups practiced in Pakistan’s neighborhood. …