International

OSLO: The head of Norway’s mammoth sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday it would be “quite difficult” to bring down global inflation due to persistent upward pressure brought on by climate change and global market trends. But a positive development in the world is artificial intelligence, which will enable us to concentrate on the “most fun” tasks, Nicolai Tangen, the …

NIAMEY: At least 17 troops were killed in an ambush in Niger in a reminder of the nation’s deep security crisis as its military rulers face off against neighbours determined to reverse last month’s coup. An army detachment was “the victim of a terrorist ambush near the town of Koutougou” in the Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso on Tuesday, said …

TRIPOLI: Tripoli’s worst armed clashes in a year have killed 55 people and wounded 146, Libyan media reported on Wednesday, before a truce took hold in the capital and air traffic was restored. Fighting between the influential 444 Brigade and the Al-Radaa, or Special Deterrence Force, two of the myriad of militias that have vied for power since the 2011 …

PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday said there was a complete ban on activities of political parties in Afghanistan. “Political parties’ activities have been completely stopped in the country because neither do these parties have any standing in Sharia, any place in Sharia nor are any natio­nal interests atta­ched to these parties or the nation liked them,” Interim Minister for …

MOSCOW: Tens of thousands of Muscovites are taking part in combat operations in Ukraine, the Russian capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday, giving a rare estimate of the forces deployed. Russia and Ukraine rarely communicate on the total number of troops involved in the conflict, or on their respective losses. “Forty-five thousand Muscovites are fighting in the area of …

MANAMA: As Iranian seizures threaten oil tankers plying the Gulf, the United States is raising its military presence — a move long demanded by Gulf Arab states who accused Washington of retreating from the region. Three thousand additional US personnel on troop-landing warships have already passed through the Red Sea, and US-led maritime forces are warning ships against approaching Iranian …

Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi “assumed responsibilities” as the country’s 32nd foreign secretary on Thursday, replacing Asad Majeed Khan who retired from government service “upon attaining superannuation”, Radio Pakistan reported. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Foreign Office (FO) stated, “Ambassador Syrus Qazi has assumed responsibilities as the 32nd foreign secretary of Pakistan.”     The FO further said, “Ambassador Qazi …

Embattled officials in Hawaii who have been criticised for the lack of warnings as a deadly wildfire ripped through a town insisted on Wednesday that sounding emergency sirens would not have saved lives. At least 110 people died when the inferno levelled Lahaina last week on the island of Maui, with some residents not aware their town was at risk until they …

AQBAT CAMP: Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, in the first deadly raid in the Jericho area for months. There has been a surge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent months, marked by raids by Israeli forces as well as deadly attacks by Palestinians and Israelis. The Palestinian health ministry announced two …

PARIS: Iranian authorities have re-arrested a journalist who interviewed the father of the woman whose custody death sparked months of protests, just two days after her release from jail, activists said on Tuesday. Nazila Maroufian walked out of Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday, posting on social media a picture of herself without a headscarf in defiance of the Islamic republic’s …