International

China’s former leader Jiang Zemin, who steered the country through a transformational era from the late 1980s and into the new millennium, has died at the age of 96, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. Jiang took power in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and led the world’s most populous nation towards its emergence as a powerhouse on …

THE HAGUE: Police have smashed a huge drugs “super-cartel” that controlled around a third of Europe’s cocaine trade, arresting 49 people in various countries, including six chief suspects in Dubai, Europol said on Monday. The international operation codenamed “Desert Light” seized 30 tonnes of the drug and led to arrests in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain, the European Union’s …

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday announced plans for a new airport in Riyadh intended to spur rapid growth in the capital while advancing the kingdom’s ambitious aviation goals. The airport, set to accommodate 120 million travellers by 2030 and 185 million travellers by 2050, will be named after 86-year-old King Salman and was announced by his son, 37-year-old de facto …

WASHINGTON: Recent executions in Saudi Arabia have led to calls from UN agencies and human rights groups for abolition of death penalty in the oil-rich Arab kingdom. Rights activists were particularly concerned with the Saudi decision to resume executions for drug-related offences, calling it “a deeply regrettable step”. They noted that executions on drug and other charges resumed just days …

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small precision bombs fitted onto abundantly available rockets, allowing Kyiv to strike far behind Russian lines as the West struggles to meet demand for more arms. US and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags …

ANKARA: After years of tension, a handshake between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last week opened the door to a flurry of back-door diplomacy between intelligence officials, two sources said. Intelligence delegations from the two sides met in Egypt at the weekend, said a regional source with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition …

PARIS: A group of Iranian actors have staged a silent protest without their headscarves in a gesture of solidarity with demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a video posted on social media showed. The death of Amini, 22, who had been arrested by the Tehran morality police, has triggered more than two months of protests which pose the …

ONCUPINAR: Turkey’s army needs just a few days to be ready for a ground incursion into northern Syria and such a decision may come at a cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish officials said, as Turkish forces bombarded a Kurdish militia across the border. Howitzers fired daily from Turkey have struck Kurdish YPG targets for a week, while warplanes have carried …

WASHINGTON: Foreign Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has urged the international community to set up a fund for helping the victims of climate change before the next UN climate change conference, known as COP28, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next year. The UAE hosts the next UN-sponsored Conference of the Parties (COP) in November 2023 while COP27 was held in Egypt earlier …

Police in southern India on Tuesday ramped up security around Vizhinjam port being built by billionaire Gautam Adani’s group after scores of people were injured during clashes with protesters from a fishing community over the weekend. Construction at the mega $900-million port project on the southern tip of India has been halted for more than three months after protesters — mostly Christian …