International

Thousands of “yellow vest” protesters returned to the streets of France on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s policies, clashing with police in several cities in a challenge to his bid to quell the movement. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to push back protesters at Place de la Bastille in Paris, one of the regular protest areas, …

Nine Japanese companies, including drugmakers and a newspaper, have received blackmail letters containing white powder suspected to be cyanide, police and local media said Sunday. The letters were sent under the names of executed members of the Aum Shinrikyo — the Japanese doomsday cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo — and demanded 35 million won ($31,000) …

Rainbow flags flew high and gay anthems blasted out over Yangon’s river as a flotilla of boats took to the water of Myanmar’s biggest city on Saturday for the country’s first-ever Pride boat parade in a sign of growing acceptance for LGBT rights. Some 600 revellers partied under a blazing sun as the discreet community slowly emerges into the limelight …

The death toll from the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste in southeastern Brazil rose to 40 on Saturday as searchers flying in helicopters and rescuers labouring in deep mud uncovered more bodies. An estimated 300 people were still missing and authorities expected the death toll to increase during a search made more challenging by intermittent rains. Scores …

Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 27 people and wounding 77 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said. The attack comes days after a regional vote for a new Muslim autonomous region. Police said at least 27 people died and 77 were wounded. The …

Roger Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, was arrested on Friday morning on several criminal charges stemming from the special counsel’s Russia investigation. Stone is charged in a seven-count indictment with witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to the release by WikiLeaks of hacked emails during the 2016 presidential election. Some of those false statements were …

Senior Nato and Russian officials made no progress on Friday in talks on saving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, raising the spectre of a renewed arms race in Europe. “There was no real progress in the meeting today because Russia did not indicate any willingness to change their position,” Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said. Western capitals allege that Russia’s …

MELBOURNE: Blistering heat triggered power outages on Australia’s strained grid on Friday as demand for air-conditioning soared and coal-fired generators struggled to meet the surge in consumption. To shore up the grid, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) cut power to Alcoa Corp’s Portland aluminium smelter, the biggest consumer in the state of Victoria, for nearly two hours on Thursday …

BRUSSELS: The Euro­pean Commission has added Saudi Arabia to an EU draft list of countries that pose a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against terrorism financing and money laundering, two sources said on Friday. The move comes amid heightened international pressure on Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate …

GENEVA: The United Nations’ human rights office said on Friday a three-member team of international experts would conduct an inquiry into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, confirming an earlier report by this news agency. Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said on Thursday she would travel to Turkey next week to head an …