International

India’s finance minister has derided comments by former US president Barack Obama that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government should protect the rights of minority Muslims, accusing Obama of being hypocritical. During Modi’s state visit to the United States last week, Obama told CNN that the issue of the “protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India” would be worth raising in Modi’s meeting with US …

WASHINGTON: A year after US Supreme Court scrapped the constitutional right to abortion in the United States, President Joe Biden on Saturday vowed to fight against the “extreme and dangerous” effort by Republicans to curb access to the procedure nationwide. The high court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision passed the regulation of abortion back to individual …

JERUSALEM: Viole­nce in the occupied West Bank persisted on Saturday with a Pales­tinian man killed by Israeli forces at a checkpoint and Israelis attacking Palestinian residents, officials on both sides said. The latest incidents add to a mounting toll which has cost four Israeli and 16 Palestinian lives across the territory since Monday. At the Qalandia checkpoint north of Jerusalem, …

PARIS: Global leaders on Saturday watched closely as the Wagner mercenary group stirred a mutiny in Russia, posing the most serious challenge yet to President Vladimir Putin’s long rule in Russia. Several countries kept an eye on the situation before the group withdrew following an intervention by Belarus. US President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation in Russia and …

NEW DELHI: Amazon and Google are the latest companies to announce massive investment plans in India amid US President Joe Biden’s efforts to “send a message to China” by cementing India’s position as a close ally. Amazon said on Friday it will take its investments in India to $26 billion by 2030, adding $6.5bn in new planned investments in an …

KARACHI: “I want to make it clear that the United States is not pressing Pakistan to choose between [the US and] economic relations with China,” said US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome. He was speaking at an interactive session on ‘US-Pakistan Relations: Present and Future’ organised by the Pakistan Council on Foreign Relations (PCFR) here on Friday evening. Former chief …

Afghanistan’s supreme leader claimed on Sunday that the country’s women were being saved from “traditional oppressions” by the adoption of Islamic governance and their status as “free and dignified human beings” restored. In a statement marking this week’s Eidul Azha holiday, Hibatullah Akhundzada — who rarely appears in public and rules by decree from the Taliban’s birthplace in Kandahar — …

Heavily armed Russian mercenaries withdrew from the southern Russian city of Rostov overnight under a deal that defused an unprecedented challenge to the authority of President Vladimir Putin and halted their rapid advance on Moscow. Fighters of the Wagner group returned to their bases in return for guarantees for their safety and the leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will move to Belarus, …

India’s federal government on Sunday ordered the chief minister of Manipur state to “work harder” to restore peace as violence between ethnic groups has not subsided for over 50 days despite a heavy security presence. “I have been advised by the home minister to work harder towards restoring lasting peace in Manipur,” said N Biren Singh, chief minister of the northeastern state …

Vast crowds of robed Muslim pilgrims walked solemn circles around the Kaaba, the black cube at Makkah’s Grand Mosque, on Sunday as the biggest Haj pilgrimage in several years began in the heat of the Saudi summer. Islam’s holiest site is expected to host more than two million worshippers from 160 countries during the annual rites that could break attendance …