International

Pakistan on Thursday registered a strong protest against the implementation of India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), according to a report from state-run Radio Pakistan. On March 11, India had announced rules to implement a 2019 citizenship law that critics call anti-Muslim. The Modi government had not crafted implementation rules for the law after protests and sectarian violence broke out within weeks of the law’s enactment in December 2019. …

LONDON: As prominent figures in the Conservative party, including PM Rishi Sunak, create a narrative about London’s largely peaceful pro-Palestine protests as “a threat to democracy” or “extremist”, the British government on Thursday unveiled a new definition of extremism and banned ministers and civil servants from talking to or funding organisations deemed to fall within the new meaning. Whereas the …

NEW DELHI: Thousands of farmers rode buses and trains from across India to gather on Thursday at a rally in the capital, pressing a demand for higher guaranteed prices for their crops, as they faced down police barricades and tough security. The rally, days before general elections are expected to be called in an exercise that will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi …

LONDON: Australian computer scientist Craig Wright is not “Satoshi Nakamoto”, the pseudonym used by the creator of the cryptocurrency bitcoin when it launched in 2008, a UK court ruled on Thursday. The decision follows a nearly two-month trial in London’s High Court after Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organisation set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, …

SEOUL: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un drove a “new-type main battle tank” while overseeing military training exercises, state media said on Thursday, as Seoul and Washington wrap joint drills to improve deterrence. Wearing a black leather jacket, Kim saluted ranks of camouflage-uniformed troops, and watched live-fire “training march” exercises from a field command post, flanked by top generals, images …

GAZA STRIP: Efforts grew on Thursday to get more aid into the war-devastated Gaza Strip, where the UN warns of famine and desperate residents have stormed relief shipments. After mediators failed to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas for the holy fasting month of Ramazan, which started on Monday, fighting continued with at least 69 deaths over the previous …

MARSEILLE: At least 60 people died on a migrant boat that lost power as it tried to reach Europe from Libya, an aid group said on Thursday, citing accounts from those rescued. “Survivors report that at least 60 people died en route, including women and at least one child,” said Marseille-based SOS Mediterranee. The group’s Ocean Viking rescue ship is …

WASHINGTON: US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Thursday for new elections in Israel, harshly criticising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace. Democrat Schumer, long a supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking US Jewish elected official, told the Senate that Netanyahu’s government “no longer fits the needs of Israel” five months into a war. “As a …

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s top humanitarian aid official said on Thursday he had seen no evidence from Israel to back its accusations against staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which should continue playing a “critical” role in Gaza. UNRWA, which provides aid and services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and across the region, has been in crisis since Israel accused …

Russians started voting on Friday in a three-day presidential election that is set to hand veteran leader Vladimir Putin another six-year term as the raging conflict in Ukraine spreads further into Russian territory. In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, the former KGB agent is casting the election as a show of Russians’ loyalty …