International

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday slammed “ugly racial protests” in Australia’s second-largest city, after some far-right demonstrators were seen making Nazi salutes. An anti-immigration rally at St Kilda Beach in Melbou­rne drew hundreds of demonstrators and counter-protesters on Saturday, but a large Victoria Police presence was broadly successful in keeping the two groups apart. “I thank Vic police …

LONDON: Prime Mini­ster Theresa May said on Sunday that Britain would be in uncharted territory if her Brexit deal is rejected by parliament later this month, despite little sign that she has won over sceptical lawmakers. Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29 but May’s inability so far to get her deal for a managed exit …

RIYADH: Saudi courts will notify women by text message when they get divorced, in a new regulation that took effect on Sunday, officials said. The measure approved by the justice ministry appears aimed at curbing seemingly rampant cases of men secretly ending marriages without informing their wives. “Women … will be notified of any changes to their marital status via …

WASHINGTON: A US Senator, who plans to contest the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump, has said she supports withdrawing Ameri­can troops from military engagements in Syria and Afghanistan. “I think it is right to get our troops out of Syria and let me add, I think it is right to get our troops out of Afghanistan,” said Senator Elizabeth …

PESHAWAR: The Taliban will not attend planned peace talks with the United States in Saudi Arabia this month, and want to shift the venue to Qatar, Taliban officials said on Sunday, seeking to fend off Riyadh’s push to include the Afghan government in talks. The upcoming negotiations, the fourth in a series aimed at ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, …

ISTANBUL: An independent Ukrainian Orthodox church was created at a signing ceremony in Turkey on Saturday, formalising a split with the Russian church it had been tied to since 1686. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, signed the “Tomos” in Istanbul in front of clerics and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, forming the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. It forces Ukrainian …

SANAA: The UN envoy for Yemen arrived in the capital Sanaa on Saturday for talks to shore up a cea­sefire in the country’s lifeline port city of Hodei­­da, an AFP photographer said. Martin Griffiths is sche­duled to hold talks in Sa­­n­aa with Houthi rebel leaders before visiting Saudi ca­­pital Riyadh to meet Ye­­meni government officials. While in Sanaa he will …

TEHRAN: Iran is to deploy its newest warship to the Atlantic Ocean on a five-month mission — the navy’s longest in a decade, the conservative Fars news agency reported on Saturday. “The navy has had a plan to deploy a flotilla to the Atlantic Ocean for a few years and now everything seems prepared to launch the mission,” said Fars, …

BERLIN: Germany’s BSI cyber defence agency on Saturday defended its role in responding to a far-reaching data breach, saying it could not have connected individual cases it was aware of last year until the entire data release became public. The government said on Friday that personal data and documents from hundreds of German politicians and public figures including Chancellor Angela …

WASHINGTON: Husain Haqqani, a former ambassador to the United States, said on Saturday he had not received any warrants about inquiries from Pakistani authorities over the past seven years. “It seems to be another gimmick aimed to gullible Pakistani media. New allegations filed more than seven years after my forced resignation are obviously manufactured,” Mr Haqqani said in a press …