International

DUBAI: Fighting in Yemen’s north has left dozens dead and wounded, a government source said on Friday, as UN agencies issued stark warnings that 400,000 children risk death this year from lack of food. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis rebels have resumed an offensive to seize strategic oil-rich Marib, the government’s last northern stronghold, the loss of which would be disastrous for …

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has launched a formal review of the future of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, reviving the Obama-era goal of closing the controversial facility, a White House official said on Friday. Aides involved in internal discussions are considering an executive action to be signed by President Joe Biden in coming weeks or months, …

NEW DELHI: India’s top court on Friday sought the government and Twitter’s response to a petition seeking greater regulation of content on social media platforms amid a debate over free speech. The case comes amid a growing standoff between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government and Twitter, after the company refused to fully comply with orders to remove certain …

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf on Friday called for building the Pak-US bilateral relationship around economic security. He was speaking at the launch of a report titled ‘Pak-Americana: Ushe­ring in a New Era of Pakistan-US Rela­tions’ published by Tabadlab, a think tank and advisory services firm. This paradigm shift in ties, he …

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump is the target of unconstitutional “vengeance” and senators should reject his impeachment for inciting insurrection, the former president’s lawyer told the US Senate at the opening of the defense case on Friday. “The article of impeachment now before the Senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance,” attorney Michael van der Veen said. “Like …

India has chided Twitter for not complying with its orders to remove certain accounts and content, warning the social media platform that it “must respect” Indian laws “irrespective of Twitter’s own rules and guidelines.” “We value freedom and we value criticism because it is part of our democracy. But freedom of expression is not absolute and it is subject to reasonable restrictions” …

British television channel BBC World News has been barred from airing in China, the National Radio and Television Administration said on Friday, a week after Britain’s media regulator revoked Chinese state television’s broadcast licence. In a statement issued on the stroke of the Lunar New Year, the administration said an investigation found BBC World News’ China-related reports had “seriously violated” regulations, including that …

Nepal on Wednesday revoked the Everest summit certificates of two Indian climbers for faking their 2016 ascent, and banned them and their team leader from mountaineering in the country for six years, officials said. Narender Singh Yadav and Seema Rani Goswami said they reached the top of the world’s highest mountain in the 2016 spring season, and Nepal’s tourism department …

ISLAMABAD: The International Development Committee (IDC) has relaunched an inquiry into effectiveness of UK Aid to Pakistan. In June 2019, the previous IDC launched an inquiry into UK Aid to Pakistan but did not take any oral evidence before parliament was dissolved. The new committee comprising 11 members of the parliament is chaired by Sarah Champion of the Labour Party. …

BEIRUT: A multi-faith memorial service for Lebanese activist Lokman Slim, who was killed last week, triggered a row on Thursday after a Shia cleric was attacked on social media for taking part. Slim, an academic and leading secular voice from the Shia community, was routinely criticised and often threatened over his stance against the powerful Shia movement Hezbollah. The service, …