International

SEOUL: South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach the country’s interior minister on Wednesday over a Hal­loween crowd crush in Seoul that killed more than 150 people, the first such effort to remove a cabinet minister. Interior Minister Lee Sang-min has come under pressure to resign following heavy criticism over his handling of the October 29, 2022 disaster, when scores of …

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden urged unity and touted a blue-collar economic resurgence on Tuesday in a rousing State of the Union speech before a raucous Congress that doubled as a bid to persuade voters he still has what it takes to seek reelection at age 80. At times smiling and joking, at times showing anger, Biden concluded his address, viewed …

STOCKHOLM: Sweden has moved into the international spotlight after a number of provocative incidents, including the recent public burning of the Holy Quran, the security services said on Wednesday. “Recent developments with threats targeted at Sweden and Swedish interests are serious and affect Sweden’s security,” the country’s security service, SAPO, said in a statement. “The developments mean that Sweden is …

GHAZIABAD: A leopard wounded at least five people on Wednesday when it strayed into a courthouse on the outskirts of India’s capital, police said. A leopard was caught four hours after it entered the court premises, India Today reported. According to bystanders, the leopard suddenly arrived on the first floor of the Ghaziabad court around 4pm. Chaos and commotion pervaded …

THE HAGUE: There are “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the supply of the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, international investigators said on Wednesday. But the investigators said they were halting their eight-year probe, since Putin has immunity as head of state and there is not enough concrete evidence to prosecute him …

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Authorities here have decided to issue special cards to Pakistani nationality holders living in the border areas inside Afghanistan to facilitate their hassle-free cross-border movement. Officials said that all those, who were interested in receiving the special cards for movement from Afghanistan into Pakistan, would be issued a form, which would be filled and submitted to the office …

LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Wednesday toave killed a member of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in an encounter in Khanewal. A spokesperson claimed that the Multan CTD got a tip-off that members of a group involved in heinous terrorist activities, including attack on law-enforcement agencies (LEAs), were present in the vicinity of Chak 40/10-R in Khanewal. …

GENEVA: Over 23 million people could have been affected by the massive earthquake that ravaged Turkiye and Syria, the WHO warned on Tuesday, promising long-term assistance. “Event overview maps show that potentially 23 million people are exposed, including around five million vulnerable populations,” the World Health Organisation’s emergencies officer Adelheid Marschang said. “Civilian infrastructure and potentially health infrastructure have been …

A new generation of AI chatbots has unleashed a titanic battle between Microsoft and Google for the eyeballs of billions of web users, and the dollars they bring. Microsoft has gone all-in with a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the firm behind the world’s most buzzy bot ChatGPT, hoping to revolutionise its unloved Bing search engine. Google has owned the search …

LONDON: A UK judge on Tuesday sentenced a former policeman to life in jail, with a minimum term of 30 years, for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults in the latest case to shame London’s Metropolitan Police force. Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb handed David Carrick 36 life sentences for a “monstrous” string of 71 sexual offences against 12 women. She said …