International

ISLAMABAD: South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa remained the two worst regions in terms of child mortality in 2021, a new UN report has said. The report released on Tuesday estimated that around five million children died before the age of five while another 2.1 million children and youth between five and 24 years lost their lives in 2021. Children continue to face …

KYIV: Russian troops have stepped up an assault on the small salt mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, forcing Ukrainian troops to repel waves of attacks led by mercenary forces, officials in Kyiv said. Britain’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Russian and forces of the Wagner contract group were probably now in control of most of the town, …

GENEVA: As global condemnation of Iran’s execution of protesters intensified, the country on Tuesday decided to “firmly punish” people who violate the hijab law. The United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva condemned the executions in Iran and said they amounted to state-sanctioned killing. Tehran has executed four people in connection with nearly four months of demonstrations in the country, …

Indonesian President Joko Widodo acknowledged on Wednesday a series of incidents amounting to “gross human rights violations” had taken place in his country’s past, including the bloodshed and arrests that took place in 1965 and 1966. In one of the darkest periods of Indonesia’s history, some historians and activists have estimated at least 500,000 people were killed in violence that …

A 19-year-old man accused of attacking three New York City police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year’s eve — crime investigators have linked to Islamist extremism — was charged in federal court on Tuesday with attempted murder. The four federal charges — all for attempted murder — against Trevor Bickford, 19, add to a slew of …

Several people were lightly wounded on Wednesday by a man wielding a knife at the busy Gare du Nord station in Paris, French authorities said. The man was arrested by police at the station — serving as a hub for trains to London and northern Europe — after they opened fire and wounded him, said a police source who asked …

British police said on Tuesday they had opened an investigation into a package containing uranium that was seized at London’s Heathrow Airport. The package was discovered by border agents during a routine search on December 29, police said. The package had originated in Pakistan and arrived on a flight from Oman, according to The Sun, which first reported the story. The uranium was …

PARIS: The ozone layer that shields life on Earth from deadly solar radiation is on track to recover within decades, but controversial geoengineering schemes to blunt global warming could reverse that progress, a major scientific assessment warned on Monday. Since the mid-1970s, certain industrial aerosols have led to the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere, 11 to 40 kilometres above …

BRUSSELS: Nato and the EU are seeking to ramp up cooperation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended the European security order, a joint declaration on Monday said. The two Brussels-based organisations have been looking to improve coordination for years, despite fears in some quarters that efforts to bolster the EU’s role in defence could undermine the US-led alliance. The invasion …

PARIS: Iran has handed down three more death sentences for offences related to the civil unrest triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death, the judiciary said on Monday, fuelling international protests against the regime. The latest sentences — for three men who were convicted of the killings of three security forces members — bring to 17 the official total of detainees condemned …