International

TEHRAN: Saudi Ara­bia’s embassy in Tehran has resumed operations, state media in Iran repor­ted on Wednesday, following a thaw in ties seven years after the mission was closed. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their respective embassies following a China-brokered deal announced in March. The long-time regional rivals severed ties in 2016 after Saudi diplomatic missions in …

WINTZENHEIM: Eleven people were killed in eastern France on Wednesday when a fire tore through a holiday lodging being used by a group of adults with learning disabilities, officials said. The fire at the timbered residence in the eastern town of Wintzenheim struck deep in the night while the guests were asleep, with many of those on the upper floor …

An assailant threw a Molotov cocktail — a bomb that consists of a bottle filled with flammable liquid — at Sweden’s embassy in Beirut, causing no casualties, Stockholm’s foreign minister and a diplomatic source said on Thursday, amid anger over recent incidents of the Holy Quran’s desecration. “We confirm that there was a Molotov cocktail thrown at the facade of our …

Over 3,000 poor Muslims have fled a business hub outside New Delhi this month, fearing for their lives after Hindu-Muslim clashes and sporadic attacks targeting them, residents, police and a community group said. Shops and shacks owned or run by Muslims and their houses in two large slum areas were padlocked when Reuters visited them more than a week after seven people were killed in clashes …

BEIJING: Seven people were killed in flash floods in south-western China on Wednesday, as authorities in Beijing tripled the death toll from the capital’s heaviest-ever rains. China has been hit by record downpours in recent weeks, damaging infrastructure and deluging swaths of Beijing’s suburbs and surrounding areas. And in south-western Sichuan province, flash flooding on Wed­nesday killed seven people on …

Russia downed 11 Ukrainian drones nearing Crimea and two headed for Moscow, officials said on Thursday, the latest in a blitz of air strikes on Russian-held territory. “Two UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) flying in the direction of the city of Moscow were destroyed,” the Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram. It said one drone was shot down …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that if the alleged contents of a diplomatic cipher — which ex-premier Imran Khan cited as proof of a conspiracy to remove his government — published in a US-based news organisation were true, it was tantamount to a “massive crime”. The purported cipher — sent to Islamabad last year by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that if the alleged contents of a diplomatic cipher — which ex-premier Imran Khan cited as proof of a conspiracy to remove his government — published in a US-based news organisation were true, it was tantamount to a “massive crime”. The purported cipher — sent to Islamabad last year by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US …

OSLO: Norway’s data protection agency said on Tuesday it would start fining Facebook and Instagram owner Meta nearly $100,000 per day for defying a ban on using users’ personal information to target ads. The Norwegian watchdog, Datatilsynet, said Meta would be fined one million kro­ner ($97,000) per day, starting August 14. Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet’s international department, said the …

India’s parliament debated a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Tuesday, a day after opposition leader Rahul Gandhi returned to the house. The opposition Congress party launched the debate in a bid to force comment from Modi on months of deadly ethnic conflict in northeastern Manipur state, with a vote potentially to be held on Thursday. Government minister Kiren Rijiju said …