International

Taiwan’s air force scrambled into action on Sunday after spotting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, as the island’s defence ministry said four Chinese warships also carried out combat patrols. This is the second time in less than a week that Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on …

BOGOTA: Four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest were found alive and flown to the capital Bogota early on Saturday. The children, who survived a small plane crash in the jungle, were transported by army medical plane to a military airport. They were taken off the plane on stretchers and …

PARIS: The Syrian refugee detained in the stabbing of six people including four young children in the French Alpine town of Annecy has been charged with “attempted murder”, a prosecutor said on Saturday. The suspect is under formal investigation for attempted murder and resisting arrest with a weapon, the prosecutor said. The injured are no longer in critical condition, Annecy Prosecutor Line …

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said Pakistan is committed to maintaining relations with all the countries and seeking enhanced engagement with the Russian government through deep meaningful ties. However, he said, the country wanted to maintain neutrality over the Ukraine conflict. He expressed these views in response to a question during an interview with Al Jazeera TV, broadcast on Saturday. …

BUCHAREST: Romania on Saturday said it had recalled its ambassador to Kenya for allegedly comparing a monkey to Africans while attending a meeting in Nairobi. Dragos Viorel Tigau was at a UN building in Kenya’s capital on April 26 when a monkey appeared at the window of the conference room. “The African group has joined us,” Tigau said according to …

PARIS: Despite the recent fall in oil prices, high air fares may stay in place for some time to come, say airline industry professionals and experts. The gradual return of demand for travel last year following the lifting of Covid-19-related travel restrictions, had already given the signal for higher fares. But this year, just as the airlines are expecting to …

RAMALLAH: Israeli forces on Friday killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and the army said, with the latter adding that a soldier was lightly wounded. Mehdi Bayadsa, 29, was killed by “bullets from the occupation (Israel) near the Rantis military checkpoint, west of Ramallah”, the ministry said in a statement. The military in a …

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday announced a $2.1-billion military aid package for Ukraine, just as Kyiv appeared to be opening its long-awaited counter-offensive aimed at driving Russia from the country. The package included missiles for Patriot air defence systems, artillery rounds, drones and laser-guided rocket system munitions. The new arms, illustrate “the continued commitment to both Ukraine’s critical near-term …

MOSCOW: Russia will start deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus after special storage facilities are made ready on July 7 and 8, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, Moscow’s first move of such warheads outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin announced in March he had agreed to deploy such weapons in Belarus, pointing to US deployment …

NEW YORK: The mass of smoky air that choked New York, Washington and other US cities earlier this week moderated on Friday as it drifted as far south as the Florida Panhandle, and conditions improved to “moderate” along most of the Eastern Seabord. The US National Wea­ther Service said air quality had improved in areas along the East Coast, but …