International

KABUL: One person was killed and three others were wounded in an explosion in Kabul, Afghan police said on Sunday, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility for the sticky bomb attack. The improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated in the Kot-i-Sangi neighbourhood, near an enclave of the historically persecuted Shia Hazara community, which has been targeted by the militant …

COLOMBO: The United Nations on Sunday urged Sri Lanka to bridge its “accountability deficit” and ensure justice as the country commemorated the 279 victims of its worst-ever attack against civilians five years ago. The UN’s top envoy to the country, Marc-Andre Franche, told a remembrance service in Colombo that there should be a “thorough and transparent investigation” to uncover those …

RAFAH: A baby girl was delivered from the womb of a Palestinian killed along with her husband and daughter by an Israeli attack in the Gaza city of Rafah, where 19 people died overnight in intensified strikes, Palestinian health officials said. The dead, killed in hits on two houses, included 13 children from one family, they said. The baby, weighing …

GAZA: Health workers have uncovered at least 50 bodies of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at a hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis. But while Israeli military said it was checking reports about the recovery of 50 bodies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared far from being willing to respect the United Nations resolution calling for a …

Papua New Guinea’s leader has dismissed Joe Biden’s unlikely suggestion that his uncle was eaten by cannibals there as “loose” talk that does not reflect the US president’s feelings for the country. “Sometimes you have loose moments,” James Marape said in an interview after Biden’s contentious remarks, adding that the relationship was stronger than “one blurry moment”. Biden said last week that …

Four people are dead and 10 others missing following storms that battered southern China, state media said on Monday, with tens of thousands evacuated from areas hit by torrential downpours. Heavy rain has descended upon the vast southern province of Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only “seen around …

Donald Trump on Monday will hear prosecutors explain why his alleged cover-up of a hush money payment to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign broke the law, as the first-ever criminal trial of a former United States president begins in New York. Lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate will also make their opening statement in what may be the only …

India’s main opposition Congress party filed a complaint to the Election Commission on Monday accusing Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “blatantly targeting” minority Muslims in a campaign speech. The world’s most populous country is constitutionally secular and its election code bans canvassing based on “communal feelings”. Modi’s muscular Hindu-first politics is a key part of his electoral appeal …

LAS PALMAS: Ministers from five Mediterranean nations on Saturday urged the EU to “deepen” bilateral agreements with migrant countries of origin and increase funding to tackle the root causes of migration. Meeting on Gran Cana­ria Island, interior and migration ministers from the so-called MED5 nations — Cyprus, Gree­ce, Italy, Malta and Spain — discussed the new migration and asylum pact …

BEIJING: Russia remained China’s top oil supplier in March, data showed on Saturday, as refiners snapped up stranded Sokol shipments. China’s imports from Russia, including supplies via pipelines and sea-borne shipments, jumped 12.5 per cent on the year to 10.81 million tonnes, or 2.55 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. …