International

WASHINGTON: FBI agents on Thursday arrested a young national guardsman suspected of being behind a major leak of sensitive US government secrets — including about the Ukraine war. US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the arrest made “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information”. Addressing a news briefing, Garland named …

A major prisoner exchange involving hundreds of captives from Yemen’s civil war got underway on Friday after truce talks ended with an agreement to hold a second round. The first plane departed Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, for government-controlled Aden hours after a Saudi delegation departed without a fresh truce but with plans to meet again. Both initiatives come a month …

Prism Health North Texas, which runs five health clinics in the Dallas area focused on HIV and AIDS services, is laying off about 15% of its employees and ending certain community programs as it deals with inflation and revenue losses. Prism Health CEO Dr. John Carlo told The Dallas Morning News that roughly 30 employees were let go Thursday, mostly from administrative …

LAHORE: Punjab’s excise and taxation department has served a notice on the Lahore residence of PTI chief Imran Khan, seeking information about the property size and other details to calculate a luxury tax. The notice issued on Thursday said the provincial government imposed a luxury tax from July 2014 on houses measuring at least two kanals (around 1,200 square yards) …

US radio broadcaster National Public Radio (NPR) on Wednesday said it was quitting Twitter, in the first significant defection by a major news outlet since Elon Musk’s tumultuous takeover of the platform. The exit caps a week-long row over Twitter’s decision to label NPR as a “state-affiliated media”, branding it the same way as it does major media outlets in authoritarian countries such as Russia or …

AMSTERDAM: Dutch police detained two protesters who ran towards French President Emmanuel Macron in Amsterdam on Wednesday as his domestic troubles intruded once again on his state visit. The dramatic arrests outside Amsterdam University came a day after demonstrators against Macron’s controversial pension reforms heckled him during a speech in The Hague. The pomp of the first state visit to …

LONDON: Prince Harry will attend the coronation in London of his father King Charles III but without his wife Meghan, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday. The announcement follows weeks of uncertainty over the presence of Harry and Meghan, who have launched a barrage of criticism of the British royal family since announcing they were quitting royal duties in early 2020. …

KOUROU (French Guiana): Could vast, long-hidden oceans be teeming with alien life in our very own Solar System? A new chapter in humanity’s search for extra-terrestrial life opens on Thursday as Europe’s JUICE spacecraft blasts off on a mission to investigate the icy moons of Jupiter. First discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei more than 400 years ago, these ice-covered …

INDIA’S renowned art and cultural institution Kalakshetra has been embroiled over allegations of sexual harassment against a faculty member and three artists who work as substitute teachers at the prestigious dance academy, BBC reported on Wednesday. According to a report, police had arrested an assistant professor and an accomplished dancer Hari Padman last week after a former student lodged a complaint, accusing him …

ISLAMABAD: Min­is­ter of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will lead a Pakistani delegation to the 4th mee­ting of the “Neighbouring Countries of Afgha­nis­t­­an” to be held in Samar­kand on Thursday (today). On the sidelines of the ministerial huddle, Ms Khar will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of the participating states. The mechanism was launched in 2021 on Pakistan’s …