International

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will gradually resume Umrah pilgrimage from October 4, the kingdom’s Ministry of Interior announced on Tuesday. The ministry said the decision was made after assessing the coronavirus situation and in response to the desire of Muslims around the world to perform the ritual. In the first phase, 6,000 citizens and expatriates from within the kingdom will be …

WASHINGTON: A number of Taliban prisoners who were released by the Afghan government as a condition for peace talks have taken up arms again, the government’s lead negotiator Abdullah Abdullah said on Tuesday. Abdullah, the chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, said discussions with the Taliban in Qatar so far have been positive. However, he said some — …

WASHINGTON: The United States and the United Arab Emirates hope to have an initial agreement on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Gulf state in place by December, as the Trump administration studies how to structure a deal without running afoul of Israel. Sources close to the negotiations said the goal is to have a letter of …

UNITED NATIONS: President Xi Jinping gave a robust defence of China’s ambitions on Tuesday in a speech to the UN, warning against the perils of a “clash of civilisations” during a pandemic that has ripped through the world. In an opening address presaged by a demand by his US counterpart Donald Trump for China to be held “accountable” for the …

NEW YORK: Stocks across the world hit their lowest in seven weeks and other risk assets sold off on Monday on lingering concern over renewed lockdown measures in Europe and the UK, as well as the United States’ inability to agree on a stimulus for millions of unemployed. Oil prices fell about 5 per cent, the dollar rallied and an …

LONDON: Prone to frequent flying, a passion for SUVs and big spending, the richest one per cent of the world’s population produced twice as many planet-heating emissions as the poorest half of humanity over the last quarter-century, researchers said on Monday. That excessive consumption has left little room in the world’s “carbon budget” for poorer countries to grow without pushing …

NEW DELHI: Eight Indian lawmakers were suspended from parliament on Monday for “unruly behaviour” after opposition to contentious new farming legislation sparked some of the most chaotic scenes in recent years. MPs in the upper house had on Sunday torn up copies of the legislation, broken microphones, hurled copies of the parliamentary rulebook and staged a sit-in protest once proceedings …

AGRA: India’s famed Taj Mahal and some schools reopened on Monday as authorities pressed ahead with kickstarting the nation’s coronavirus-battered economy despite soaring infection numbers. India, home to 1.3 billion people and some of the world’s most crowded cities, has recorded more than 5.4 million Covid-19 cases, second only to the United States which it could overtake soon. But after …

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Monday he will announce his nominee for the empty Supreme Court seat at the end of this week, kickstarting a political fight set to upend the already nail-biting US election. “I will announce it either Friday or Saturday and then the work begins, but hopefully it won’t be too much work,” Trump said in …

KANDAHAR: At least 14 Afghan soldiers and police were killed during intense fighting with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday, as unabated violence gripped the country despite ongoing peace talks. Taliban fighters launched an overnight assault late on Sunday on several Afghan security force positions in the southern province of Uruzgan, inflicting a heavy toll that left …