International

BANGKOK: Myanmar’s army chief should be prosecuted for genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority, a UN human rights investigator said, adding that holding perpetrators to account for crimes was necessary before refugees who fled the country could return. Yanghee Lee, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, was speaking during a trip to Thailand and Bangladesh, where …

A multi-billion dollar China-backed rail project in Malaysia has been scrapped, government officials said on Saturday, adding that the cost of building it was too high. Malaysia has in recent months suspended several major projects signed under the country’s previous scandal-plagued regime, in a bid to cut the country’s massive one trillion ringgit ($251 billion) debt. Economics minister Azmin Ali …

JAKARTA: The number of people killed after days of torrential rain triggered flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has climbed to 59 with 25 others missing, a disaster official said on Friday. Rescuers recovered more bodies as floodwaters and rainfall subsided in several areas, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman. He said 45 people …

A gunman who overtook a SunTrust Bank branch on Wednesday in Florida apparently made five women inside lie down on the lobby floor before shooting them in the backs of their heads, police said on Thursday. Sebring police Chief Karl Hoglund said there’s no indication Zephen Xaver intended to rob the bank, and no apparent connection among him, the bank …

Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of central Pahang state was named Malaysia’s new king on Thursday, replacing Sultan Muhammad V who abdicated unexpectedly after just two years on the throne. Sultan Muhammad V, 49, resigned Jan 6 as Malaysia’s 15th king, cutting short his five-year term in the first abdication in the nation’s history. No reason was given, but it …

CARACAS: In less than a month, Juan Guaido has gone from a virtual unknown in Venezuelan politics to the country’s most-watched figure, assuming the presidency of the opposition-controlled congress and briefly being detained by the secret police. On Wednesday, the skinny 35-year-old from the South American country’s hardscrabble Caribbean coast thrust himself onto the international stage with the boldest challenge …

KABUL: A co-founder of the Taliban was appointed as the leader of its political office in Qatar on Thursday to strengthen its hand in peace talks with the United States as they try to establish a mechanism to end the 17-year Afghan war. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was released from a prison in Pakistan in October last year, has been authorised …

WASHINGTON: Washington and Beijing are “miles and miles” from resolving their trade war, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday. A high-level Chinese delegation is due in Washington next week for talks to resolve the dispute by March 1, when US duty rates on Chinese imports are due to rise sharply, but Ross tried to tamp down expectations to those …

BREMEVERHAVEN: Scientists prepared on Thursday to embark on an unprecedented, years-long mission to explore the Indian Ocean and document changes taking place beneath the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding region over the coming decades. The ambitious expedition will delve into one of the last major unexplored frontiers on the planet, a vast body of water …

DAVOS: The world is facing worrying “fragmentation”, UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, warning that the relationship between the United States, Russia and China was worryingly out of kilter. “The relationship between the three most important powers, Russia, the United States and China, has never been as dysfunctional as it is today,” the UN secretary general told the World …