International

MOSCOW: A Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea on Saturday blew up an ammunition depot, sparking evacuations on the Moscow-annexed peninsula and halting rail traffic, just five days after drones damaged Russia’s symbolic bridge across the Kerch Strait. In a counteroffensive launched to retake lands lost to Moscow, Kyiv has increasingly made clear despite some Western unease that it aims to …

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden announced Friday that he has invited CIA Director William Burns to sit on the cabinet, a mostly symbolic elevation that recognised the US spymaster’s broader role in the administration. Mr Biden praised Mr Burns for providing him “clear, straightforward analysis that prioritises the safety and security of the American people.” “Under his leadership, the CIA is …

MONTEVIDEO: Around 2,000 penguins have appeared dead on the coast of eastern Uruguay in the last 10 days, and the cause, which does not appear to be avian influenza, remains a mystery, authorities said. The Magellanic penguins, mostly juveniles, died in the Atlantic Ocean and were carried by currents to Uruguayan shores, said Carmen Leizagoyen, head of the Environment Ministry’s …

MOSCOW: A Russian war reporter was killed and three were wounded in Ukraine on Saturday in what the defence ministry said was a Ukrainian attack using cluster munitions, prompting outrage from Moscow. In a separate incident, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle said one of its journalists, Yevgeny Shilko, had been wounded elsewhere in Ukraine in a Russian attack with cluster munitions that killed …

WASHINGTON: The United States has said that it retains the ability to conduct its own operations against terrorism in the Pak-Afghan region and does not depend on the Taliban’s promises to keep terrorists out of Afghanistan. US State Department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller made these comments while responding to a question about recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan from militant hideouts in …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday strongly condemned yet another incident of the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, vowing to launch a campaign to end the sacrilege of holy books in the Nordic state. The government will help create a common strategy to eradicate evil from the platform of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the prime minister said. …

WASHINGTON: Presi­dent Joe Biden nominated Admiral Lisa Franchetti on Friday to lead the US Navy, a historic step that would break a gender barrier in the military by making her the first woman to command the service and to become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The decision by Biden is a surprise. Pentagon officials had widely expected …

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s governing Conserva­tives lost two strategically important parliamentary seats on Friday but unexpectedly retained former leader Boris Johnson’s old constituency in a setback for the opposition Labour Party. The Conservatives’ narrow victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip gave Sunak some breathing space to try to narrow Labour’s large lead in the polls by tackling inflation …

WASHINGTON: Former President Donald Trump’s trial over his alleged mishandling of classified documents will begin on May 20 next year, according to a US court order on Friday. Trump’s lawyers had resisted setting a date but said any trial should take place after the November 2024 US presidential election, in which he is front-runner for the Republican nomination. A Trump …

NEW DELHI: India and Sri Lanka agreed on Friday to consider building a land link between them, they said during President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s first visit to the regional powerhouse, as Chinese influence grows on his island. Establishing “land connectivity” across the Palk Strait, which in places is only around 25 kilometres wide, would give India access to the key ports …