International

Afghan women were stopped from entering amusement parks in Kabul on Wednesday after the Taliban’s morality ministry said there would be restrictions on women being able to access public parks. A spokesperson for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) confirmed that women would be restricted from accessing parks when asked for comment by Reuters, but …

Iran’s Army Ground Forces Commander said on Wednesday that “rioters” would have no place in the Islamic Republic if the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a tougher crackdown on nationwide protests, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. “ … should he decide to deal with them, rioters will no longer have a place in the country,“ Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari …

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered his troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the face of Ukrainian attacks near the southern city of Kherson, a significant retreat and potential turning point in the war. Ukraine reacted with caution to the announcement, saying some Russian forces were still in Kherson. “Until the Ukrainian …

PARIS: Part of Greenland’s ice sheet is thinning further inland than previously believed, which will likely lead to greater sea level rise by the end of this century, a new study found on Wednesday. The findings pertain to a northeast section of the giant ice block covering, but the trend is likely happening elsewhere on Greenland and Earth’s other ice …

PARIS: Tensions mounted between France and Italy on Wednesday over the fate of an NGO ship carrying 234 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, with Paris calling the refusal by Italian authorities to let the vessel dock “unacceptable.” It was the latest European standoff over where to disembark migrants picked up after trying to reach Europe from North Africa, with Italy …

YEARS of inaction by Commonwealth governments in response to violent assaults and excessive restraints on the work of independent media in the organisation’s 56 member states came under sharp scrutiny at a major United Nations conference in Vienna on Friday (Nov 4). Can Yeginsu, a leading human rights lawyer who is the deputy chair of a panel of legal experts, …

LONDON: Fugitive Indian diamond tycoon Nirav Modi faces extradition to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering after a London court dismissed his appeal on Wednesday. Modi has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer declined to comment. The jeweller, who fled India in 2018 before details of his alleged involvement in large-scale fraud at the Punjab National Bank …

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter on Wednesday unveiled — and then almost immediately scrapped — a new gray “official” label for some high-profile accounts as Elon Musk struggles to revamp the highly influential platform following his $44 billion buyout. “I just killed it,” Musk tweeted just hours after the new tag was added to government accounts as well as those of big …

PARIS: After years of public rows and even a brief naval stand-off in the Channel, Britain and France are looking to reset their relations under new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron met for the first time as leaders on the sidelines of the UN’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Monday. “Friends,” wrote Sunak …

DUBAI: Iran’s intelligence minister told its regional rival Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that there is no guarantee of Tehran continuing its “strategic patience,” according to semi-official Fars news agency. “Until now, Iran has adopted strategic patience with firm rationality, but it cannot guarantee that it will not run out if hostilities continue,” Fars quoted Esmail Khatib as saying. “If Iran decides to …