International

TAIPEI: Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn withdrew from a $19.4 billion deal with India’s Vedanta to make semiconductors in the South Asian nation owing to “challenging gaps”, it announced on Tuesday. The world’s top iPhone assembler signed an agreement in September with Vedanta to set up a chip factory — which would also produce display screens for phones and tablets — …

PARIS: Scientists on Tuesday designated a small body of water near Toronto, Canada as ground-zero for the Anthropocene, the proposed geological epoch defined by humanity’s massive and destabilising impact on the planet. Layered sediment at the bottom of Lake Crawford — laced with microplastics, fly-ash spread by burning oil and coal, and the detritus of nuclear bomb explosions — is …

LONDON: A crisis at Britain’s BBC over alleged payments by an unnamed star to a young person for explicit images deepened on Tuesday when its news division reported that the male presenter had sent abusive messages to a second person, aged in their early 20s. The new revelation came after the BBC sought to defend its handling of the growing scandal, after acknowledging that …

WASHINGTON: Autho­ri­ties announced covert lobbying and arms dealing charges on Monday against a US-Israeli analyst who has accused President Joe Biden’s son of corruption. Federal prosecutors in New York charged Gal Luft, the head of a think tank outside the US capital, of engaging “in multiple, serious, criminal schemes”, according to a Justice Department statement. Luft has levelled allegations of …

ISLAMABAD: The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) demonstrates that poverty reduction was achievable as 25 countries have successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable. The latest estimates for 110 countries were released on Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development …

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday approved a disputed resolution on religious hatred in the wake of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden. Last month, a man desecrated the Holy Quran in Sweden’s capital Stockholm, resulting in strong condemnation from several Muslim states, including Pakistan, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the European Union, Pope Francis and the Swedish government, among others. The resolution, introduced by …

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin held Kremlin talks with Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin days after denouncing an armed mutiny he had led as treasonous, Putin’s spokesman said on Monday, as Russia’s top general resurfaced for the first time. The meeting with Prigozhin, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was held on June 29, five days after the aborted mutiny, which …

LONDON: When it comes to taking stock of global emissions, there’s an elephant in the room: the world’s armed forces. As temperatures hit new highs, scientists and environmental groups are stepping up pressure on the UN to force armies to disclose all their emissions and end a long-standing exemption that has kept some of their climate pollution off the books. …

BEIJING: China and Russia need to “lead the correct direction of global governance reform”, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hailed the two countries’ partnership at a meeting with a top Russian politician in Beijing on Monday, state media reported. Beijing and Moscow have ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts in recent years, with exchanges only growing closer …

GENEVA: The Human Rights Council is set to debate a contentious draft proposal on religious hatred in the wake of burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden, an initiative that has highlighted rifts in the UN body and challenged practices in human rights protection. In a draft resolution presented by Pakistan on behalf of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation …