International

DAMASCUS: The new special UN envoy to Syria began his first trip to Damascus on Tuesday, facing the daunting task of rekindling moribund peace talks and succeeding where his three predecessors failed. Geir Pedersen’s visit comes at a time of heightened tension between the top foreign brokers of a conflict that has already left more than 350,000 people dead and …

NEW YORK: One of the questions special counsel Robert Mueller is trying to answer is whether any obstruction by President Donald Trump furthered Moscow’s interests, Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “I know where Mr Mueller’s investigation is going to end up, and it’s not looking good for Trump,” Mr Bernstein said on …

GENEVA: A slowdown in fighting in Yemen’s Hodeida province has allowed the UN to deliver more than 3,000 tonnes of food to two areas for the first time in six months, the World Food Programme said on Tuesday. Tuhayta and Darahimi districts in southern Hodeida last received humanitarian aid in July, when a WFP truck delivering relief goods was “hit”, …

BEIJING: A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said on Tuesday. The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister since the Chang’e-4 lander set down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology …

ISLAMABAD: Senior US official Lisa Curtis on Tuesday opened her visit to Pakistan with meetings amidst reports that the process of engagement with the Taliban for restarting the Afghan peace process had stalled. US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Amb Zalmay Khalilzad, who too was due in Islamabad, could not reach here because of changes in his itinerary. Amb Khalilzad …

Britain’s parliament on Tuesday voted against Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal by a massive margin, triggering a no confidence vote that could bring down her government. The House of Commons lower house voted 432 to 202 against May’s plan for taking Britain out of the European Union after nearly five decades, one of the biggest defeats ever suffered by …

The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a powerful truck bomb attack in Kabul that ripped through surrounding neighbourhoods, killing at least four people and wounding more than 100, in the latest assault on the Afghan capital. In a grim message, the militants also vowed to carry out more attacks in the city in direct response to the recent …

Qatar’s foreign minister ruled out on Monday the possibility of re-opening an embassy in Damascus, in line with some other Gulf countries, calling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal. “Normalisation (of relations) with the Syrian regime at this stage is the normalisation of a person involved in war crimes, and this should not be acceptable,” said Mohammed bin Abdulrahman …

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron faced a battle on Monday to convince sceptical French of his latest move to quell “yellow vest” anger as he kickstarted a two-month national debate on his policies. Struggling to end the biggest crisis of his presidency, Macron on Sunday set out over 30 questions to be debated in towns and villages across the country …

GDANSK: The centrist mayor of the Polish port city of Gdansk died on Monday, a day after a man stabbed him in the heart in front of hundreds of people at a charity event. “Despite all our efforts, we failed to save him,” Doctor Tomasz Stefaniak, director of Gdansk University hospital, told Polish media. Anti-violence rallies are being planned nationwide …