International

WASHINGTON: A move to oust a Republican Party leader in Texas because he is a Muslim has failed after it was put to a vote of the executive committee. Committee members voted 139-49 on Thursday night to retain Shahid Shafi, a trauma surgeon, as the vice chairman of the local branch of the Republican Party. “Religious liberty won tonight,” The …

GAZA: Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian woman during Gaza border protests on Friday, medics said, and the military said it opened fire in response to grenade and rock attacks and breaches of the frontier. Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza health ministry, said 25 other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire during the mass demonstration, a weekly event along …

BANGKOK: An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family seeking asylum in Australia left for South Korea on her way to Canada late on Friday, the head of Thai immigration police said, in a surprise twist to a saga partly played out over Twitter. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun was granted refugee status by the UN two days ago after arriving in Bangkok …

WASHINGTON: The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives voted on Friday to restore funding for federal agencies that have been shut down by a fight with President Donald Trump over border wall funding, as some 800,000 government workers, from tax collectors to FBI agents, missed their first paycheck. The House bill, which passed 240-179 with only a handful of Republicans supporting it, would …

ISLAMABAD: While the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has expressed satisfaction overPakistan’s efforts as well as plans against money laundering, India continues to raise questions about terror financing. “The proceedings went well and almost all the FATF members appreciated measures taken by Pakistan and actions planned by it,” sources told Dawn after the conclusion of a three-day conference in Sydney, Australia. …

MANAMA: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Bahrain on Friday, the first leg of a tour of Gulf monarchies which Washington says are “critical” to confronting Iran and jihadists. “These Gulf partnerships are critical to achieving shared regional objectives — defeating ISIS (militant Islamic State group), countering radical Islamic terrorism, protecting global energy supplies and rolling back Iranian …

Two Reuters journalists jailed for seven years for breaching Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act, while reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, lost an appeal against their conviction on Friday. “The verdict originally given was not wrong according to the law. The court decides to dismiss the appeal,” Aung Naing, the judge of Yangon Regional High Court said. Reporters Wa Lone, 32, and …

Saudi Arabia on Thursday awarded a contract to build a $500 million wind farm, a first for the world’s top oil exporter as it pushes to diversify its energy sector. A consortium led by France’s EDF and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar won the bid for the 400-megawatt Dumat al-Jandal wind project in the northern Al Jouf province, the Saudi energy ministry …

WAKEFIELD: British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on lawmakers on Thursday to help his opposition party “break the deadlock” over Brexit and support his call for a motion of no confidence in the government to trigger an election. Pledging to vote against Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal next week, Corbyn said only a Labour government could secure an accord with …

NEW DELHI: Indian parliament has approved a bill providing a 10 per cent quota in government jobs for the poor members of upper castes who have been excluded from existing quotas for low-ranking castes. The Congress party and other opposition parties supported the legislation, but criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for getting it approved just months before national elections, …