International

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday mulled a possible fourth attempt to get her Brexit agreement through parliament, faced with the growing risk of a chaotic no-deal exit in less than two weeks’ time. MPs on Friday resoundingly rejected May’s deal, although by a substantially lower margin than on two previous occasions in January and March. “We believe the best …

GAZA CITY: Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in heavy rain at the Israel-Gaza border on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of a new wave of protests, facing off against Israeli tanks and troops massed on the fortified frontier. The ‘Great March of Return’ protests have been marked by sometimes deadly violence and Gaza medical officials said two Palestinians …

RABAT: Pope Francis joined Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Saturday in declaring Jerusalem the “common patrimony” of Christians, Jews and Muslims, on the first day of a visit to the North African country. The spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics was invited by King Mohammed VI for the sake of “interreligious dialogue”, according to Moroccan authorities. In a …

India’s ruling party on Friday backed a court decision to acquit a group of Hindu hardlinersaccused of killing 68 people in a train bombing, despite the judge expressing reservations over the verdict. The country’s top anti-terror agency had charged the men over the 2007 bombing when the opposition Congress party was in government, but a full verdict handed down on Thursday …

ALGIERS: About one million people took to the streets of Algiers on Friday to demand the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, police officers at the scene said, in the biggest demonstration since unrest erupted six weeks ago. In at least one location, police opened fire with tear gas and rubber bullets, chasing and beating demonstrators, after youths hurled stones at …

BERLIN: Thousands of students skipped school in Berlin on Friday as part of a growing worldwide youth movement demanding faster action against climate change. Carrying signs with slogans such as “I want snow for Christmas” and “The climate is changing, why aren’t we?”, the demonstrators gathered in a park near the capital’s main train station before marching through the government …

GENEVA: United Nations-backed talks to prevent an arms race in outer space ended without agreement on Friday, delivering another blow to global disarmament diplomacy. Twenty-five nations — including major space-faring powers such as China, Russia and the US — held two weeks of negotiations that aimed to lay foundations for a treaty ensuring peace in space. Diplomats meeting within the …

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has warned that politicising the UN counterterrorism machinery would only compromise the integrity of the regime, as China also warned against “forcefully moving” a resolution in the UN Security Council. Speaking in a Security Council debate on “Preventing and Combating the Financing of Terrorism” on Thursday afternoon, Pakistan’s Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that current structures like FATF and …

WASHINGTON: A failure to reintegrate Taliban fighters and their families into Afghan society could undermine any peace agreement that the United States and the militants might conclude, warns an official US report to Congress. In its annual report to Congress, office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) identifies three risks that might persist after a peace settlement …

US President Donald Trump will host his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in next month, Seoul said on Friday, after the latest summit between Washington and Pyongyang ended in deadlock. Moon has long backed a policy of engagement with nuclear-armed, sanctions-hit Pyongyang and was instrumental in brokering talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But the failure of …