International

The head of China’s energy planning agency has been expelled from the country’s ruling Communist Party and dismissed from his post. Nur Bekri used his authority to aid others in job placement, business operations and mineral resource development in exchange for huge amounts of money and property, China’s disciplinary committee announced on Saturday evening. Bekri was one of the most …

Demonstrators looted and torched shops and businesses on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on Saturday, on the 18th straight weekend of “yellow vest” protests, characterised by an uptick in violence after weeks of dwindling turnout. A Boss menswear store and the upscale Fouquet’s restaurant — a brasserie popular with politicians and film stars — were among the premises to …

Bangladesh authorities jailed a senior member of football’s world governing body on Saturday, hours after she was arrested for allegedly defaming the country’s leader. Mahfuza Akhter, a FIFA council member since 2017 and national chief of women’s football, had told a TV talk show last month that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had neglected football in the cricket-mad country. A Dhaka …

WASHINGTON: The annual US report on human rights cites widespread human rights violations in the Indian occupied Kashmir, both by government forces and militant groups. Quoting from a UN report on human rights in Kashmir, the 2018 US State Department’s country report notes that an estimated up to 145 civilians were killed by security forces between July 2016 and March, with up …

At least 31 people have been killed and dozens are missing as tropical cyclone Idai hit eastern parts of Zimbabwe after lashing neighbouring Mozambique, the government said on Saturday. Most of the deaths were in Chimanimani East, Zimbabwe’s information ministry announced on Twitter. Two of the victims were students who died after a landslide sent a boulder crashing into their …

An Iranian court has sentenced an American to 10 years in prison for insulting the country’s supreme leader and posting a private picture, his lawyer confirmed on Saturday. Michael White, 46, a 13-year US Navy veteran, was arrested in July in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad while visiting a girlfriend he reportedly met online. His lawyer Mark Zaid confirmed …

Identifying the cause of the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people and caused the worldwide grounding of a brand-new Boeing aircraft model will take “considerable time,” an Ethiopian government minister said on Saturday. The crash of Flight ET 302 minutes into its flight to Nairobi on March 10 killed all onboard and caused the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 …

ABBOTTABAD: Baidaar Aapa, in her 80s, who lost her son and grandson in the Christchurch mosque attack, has expressed her earnest desire to meet the other heirs and attend the last rites of Naeem Rashid and Talha Naeem in New Zealand. As an air of gloom settled over her residence at Jinnahabad on Saturday, Naeem’s mother appealed to the government …

BEIJING: China said on Friday it was willing to have more discussions with all parties concerned, including India, on blacklisting the head of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which claimed responsibility for the attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy in held Kashmir in February. China prevented a UN Security Council committee on Wednesday from blacklisting JeM founder Masood Azhar. India said it was disappointed at …

The United States announced on Friday it would deny visas to members of the International Criminal Court involved in investigating the actions of US troops in Afghanistan or other countries. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was prepared to take further steps, including economic sanctions, if the war crimes court goes ahead with any probes of US or allied …