International

CAIRO: An Egyptian cou­rt on Thursday ordered the release of an Al Jazeera journalist who had been detained since 2016 on allegations of spreading false news and defaming Egypt’s reputation. Mahmoud Hussein, an Egyptian journalist working for the Qatar-based satellite network, was detained at the Cairo airport in December 2016 when he arrived on a family vacation from Doha. No official charges …

  Terre Haute (US): John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan in 2001 fighting for the Taliban, was freed early from federal prison on Thursday after serving 17 years, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. Lindh, who was 20 years old when he was captured, was released amid concerns about his rehabilitation. Lindh, now 38, left the prison in …

LONDON: Voters in Brexit-bound Britain cast ballots on Thursday at the start of 28-nation EU elections in which Eurosceptic, anti-immigration forces have vowed a political earthquake to shake up the Brussels establishment. With Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation appearing imminent after she postponed a forlorn attempt to push her divorce deal through parliament, Britain joined the Netherlands in kicking off …

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi is set to face a backlash from within the main Indian opposition Congress party after it suffered a mauling for a second general election in a row from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party. Read: Modi wins second term by landslide, pledges inclusive govt The drubbing was so bad that Gandhi himself lost the traditional family …

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi won an emphatic mandate on Thursday for a second consecutive term in general elections that saw him pitching national security as an invincible talisman. In a tweet, Mr Modi promised an inclusive government. “With all + everybody’s confidence = victorious India,” he said. “Together we grow. Together we prosper. Together we build a strong …

JAKARTA: Heavily armed Indonesian troops were on high alert on Tuesday amid fears of civil unrest in the capital Jakarta, as the surprise early announcement of official election results handed Joko Widodo another term as leader of the world’s third-biggest democracy. The election commission had been due to give the divisive poll’s final tally on Wednesday, but results were announced …

WASHINGTON: Global sea levels could rise by two metres or 6.5 feet and displace tens of millions of people by the end of the century, according to new projections that double the UN’s benchmark estimates. The vast ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain enough frozen water to lift the world’s oceans dozens of metres. The expansion of water as oceans warm …

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj held an informal dialogue on the sideline of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday. “Today [I] met Sushma Ji. She had a complaint that we sometimes talk in a bitter manner. She brought sweets today so we could also speak sweetly,” Qureshi was quoted as saying …

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dismissed “fake” Indian exit polls predicting a clear election victory for his opponent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day before the scheduled release of results. A slew of exit polls released after the world’s largest election ended on Sunday projected that Modi and his allies would return to power with between 282 and 313 seats out …

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May’s final Brexit gambit was in tatters on Wednesday after her offer of a vote on a second referendum and closer trading arrangements failed to win over either opposition lawmakers or many in her own party. Nearly three years since Britain voted 52 per cent to 48pc to leave the European Union, May is trying …