International

MARSEILLE: Aid group SOS Mediterranee on Thursday accused Italy of hampering its work after the authorities there ordered its migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking held “for an indefinite period” in port. Officials had cited “a very small number of technical and administrative shortcomings,” said the aid group. Having the ship blocked in the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, “prevents …

LONDON: The BBC on Thursday resumed an internal inquiry after its star news anchor was revealed as the man at the centre of a sex pictures scandal, following days of fevered speculation about his identity. Huw Edwards, 61, was dramatically named on Wednesday in a statement by his wife, six days after The Sun daily reported claims that an unnamed presenter had paid a young person $45,000 for …

STRASBOURG: The EU parliament on Thursday urged India to end violence and protect minorities in the country’s northeastern Manipur state, criticising “nationalistic rhetoric” it said was adding to tensions. It came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a visit to France. Greeted by his French counterpart Elisabeth Borne at Orly airport outside Paris, Modi stepped off his official plane to …

GENEVA: “The end of AIDS” is still possible by 2030, the United Nations insisted on Thursday, but cautioned that the world’s deadliest pandemic could only be halted if leaders grasped the opportunity. “AIDS can be ended” as a public health threat, the UNAIDS agency said, as it outlined a roadmap of investment, evidence-based prevention and treatment, empowering civil society and tackling …

JAKARTA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Beijing’s top diplomat on Thursday of consequences over hacking after a breach blamed on China again threatened to undermine a nascent stability in ties between the two powers. Less than a month after Blinken paid a rare visit to Beijing, he met for more than an hour and a half with Wang …

France’s president on Friday awarded the country’s top honour to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the start of Bastille Day celebrations where he is the featured guest. Emmanuel Macron awarded Modi the grand cross of the Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour), the highest grade of France’s order of merit that “salutes the role of the prime minister in the …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to engage with Afghanistan on all aspects of cooperation and concern, including issues relating to terror threats. At her weekly news briefing here on Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch urged Afghan authorities to fulfil their promises that their soil will not be used for terrorism against Pakistan. She said it was their …

Summer has just begun in the Northern Hemisphere but a brutal heat wave is already gripping parts of Europe, China and the United States, where record temperatures expected this weekend are a stark illustration of the dangers of a warming climate. Extreme heat advisories have been issued for more than 100 million Americans with the National Weather Service forecasting particularly …

Several areas of India’s capital New Delhi remained inundated on Friday after water from the Yamuna river, which runs through the city, flowed in through a broken drain regulator, authorities said. Footage from news agency ANI showed roads surrounding the city’s iconic Red Fort completely flooded, with broken down trucks and buses abandoned at several spots, only their windshields and roofs …

LONDON: Oil prices rose on Wednesday, with benchmark Brent futures breaching $80 a barrel for the first time since May, after US inflation data spurred hopes the Federal Reserve may have fewer interest rate hikes in store for the world’s biggest economy. US data showed consumer prices rose modestly in June and registered their smallest annual increase in more than …