International

MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Friday of aiming to disrupt Russia’s presidential election by shelling its territory and using 2,500 armed soldiers to try to pierce his country’s borders, and vowed to punish Kyiv for its actions. The first day of the election was also marred by disruptions, including dye being poured into ballot boxes, a Molotov cocktail thrown at a …

Taiwan on Saturday warned off Chinese coast guard ships that entered its restricted waters near frontline islands close to China for a second day in a row, as tensions simmer across the sensitive Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s coast guard said four Chinese coast guard boats on Saturday morning entered the restricted waters of Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, which hug the Chinese coast. …

The Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a statement on Friday, stated that India should demonstrate that it is genuinely committed to helping those whose lives or freedom are in danger by protecting all asylum seekers. Earlier this week, India implemented the contentious 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), sparking sporadic protests and a war of words between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and opposition groups weeks before …

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose Liberals are trailing badly in the polls, said on Friday he thought about quitting his “crazy job” every day, but insisted he would stay in office until the next election. That vote must be held by October next year and recent surveys of public opinion show the Liberals would be crushed by the …

MUMBAI: India’s largest known political donor is a lottery company which has been the subject of fraud and tax evasion probes, according to data published weeks before elections. The election commission published late on Thursday a list detailing buyers of electoral bonds, a controversial funding scheme that has helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party build an immense campaign war chest …

ISTANBUL: Twenty-two migrants, including seven children, drowned after a boat capsized off the Turkish coast on Thursday night. Two people were rescued by the Turkish coastguard and another two managed to make it out of the water on their own, officials said. The victims’ nationalities were not yet known. The boat capsized off Turkiye’s largest island, called Gokceada, which is …

United States Ambassador Donald Blome on Friday said Pakistan was considered an “important partner” and expressed hope in working with the newly elected government to continue building stronger bilateral ties. The development came in a meeting between Blome and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, their first after the latter was recently elected as the premier, according to a press release from …

MOGADISHU: Three people were killed in an hours-long siege claimed by Al Shabaab fighters at a popular hotel near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday. Armed fighters stormed the SYL hotel in a hail of bullets before security forces announced they had brought the situation under control after more than 13 hours. It broke a relative …

RENNES: A cyber atta­ck of “unprecedented intensity” against the Fre­nch government claimed by pro-Russian hackers this week failed to stop state operations running, a minister said on Friday. The attack came just months before Paris hosts the Olympics Games. The 48-hour effort, which started on Sunday, “hit 800 administrative centres at once”, but “at no moment were communications down… every …

GAZA STRIP: Hamas has proposed a new six-week truce in Gaza and prisoner swap on Friday, a day after Pales­tin­ian president Mahmud Abbas appointed Moham­med Mustafa, a long-trusted adviser on economic affairs, as prime minister. “The agreement is for a six-week ceasefire and a prisoner exchange,” a Hamas official said after weeks of so far fruitless mediation efforts, adding that …