International

India’s Supreme Court reinstated the ousted director of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday in a setback to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which had removed him from the postin October. The court reinstated Alok Verma as director, quashing the government’s removal order and setting aside the appointment of an interim chief, according to the Press Trust of India news …

The former chairman of Japan’s Nissan Motor Co., Carlos Ghosn, denied any wrongdoing and proclaimed his loyalty to the company at a court hearing in Tokyo on Tuesday. It was Ghosn’s first public appearance since he was arrested on Nov 19 and charged with false financial reporting. “Your honour, I am innocent of the accusations against me,” Ghosn told the …

Militants defending their last bastion in eastern Syria used the cover of bad weather to launch a deadly counterattack against a Kurdish-led force, a war monitor said on Tuesday. The militant Islamic State group was unable to hold on to the positions they attacked but the assault killed 23 members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and also left …

US officials held a second day of trade talks with Chinese counterparts in Beijing on Tuesday, overshadowed by an unannounced visit from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This is the first time the two sides have met face-to-face since US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed to a tariff truce during a meeting in Argentina on December …

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday sought to end fears of an abrupt US pullout from Syria, saying the fight against the so-called Islamic State group was not over and that withdrawal would be done in a “prudent” manner. “We will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else …

The flow of Afghans forced to leave Iran turned into a flood in 2018, with a record nearly 800,000 coming back as renewed United States sanctions sent the Iranian currency into freefall and fuelled inflation. The 773,125 voluntary returnees and deportees was 66 per cent more than in 2017 and the trend is expected to continue, said Laurence Hart, the …

PARIS: Hundreds of women on Sunday marched in Paris to reclaim France’s “yellow vest” movement from violent activists, a day after protesters smashed their way into a government ministry. The women, wearing yellow vests, turned out after 50,000 people returned to the streets of France on Saturday amid violent clashes with police. “All the media ever reports is the violence, …

URUMQI: China will not back down on what it sees as a highly successful de-radicalisation programme in Xin­j­iang that has attracted global concern, but fewer people will be sent through, officials said last week in allowing rare media access there. Beijing has faced an outcry from activists, scholars, foreign governments and UN rights experts over what they call mass detentions and strict …

ONE of the most sensitive sectors in India for years has been retail. The powerful domestic retail sector, dominated by traditional business families, has been preventing governments from introducing radical reforms in the sector. Consequently, governments (both the Congress and the BJP ruled ones) have been dabbling in half-hearted attempts to bring in international majors including Amazon and Walmart into …

Malaysia’s king has abdicated, royal officials said on Sunday, in a historic first for the country that ended weeks of speculation about his future after he took medical leave. Sultan Muhammad V’s decision marks the first time a king has abdicated in the Muslim-majority country since it gained independence from Britain in 1957. It came after the king took leave …