International

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the world’s response to the flood devastation in Pakistan was “commendable” but added that it was far from meeting the country’s needs. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the premier outlined the challenges the country is facing due to catastrophic flood which have displaced more than 33 million people. “We are among the …

SYDNEY: A pod of 230 pilot whales was found stranded on the rugged west coast of Tasmania on Wednesday, with Australian officials saying only half appeared to be alive. Aerial images showed a devastating scene of dozens of black glossy mammals strewn across a long beach, stuck on the waterline where the frigid southern ocean meets the sand. Locals covered …

TOKYO: A man set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister’s office on Wednesday after expressing opposition to a state funeral for assassinated ex-premier Shinzo Abe, local media reported. Police declined to confirm the incident, but the government said an individual with burns had been found near government property. “We are aware that a man with burns was found …

Minneapolis: A former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting in the killing of George Floyd, a Black man whose death outraged people around the world, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday. Thomas Lane appeared via video link at his brief sentencing hearing in Hennepin County District Court from a …

NEW DELHI: Elections are not due for Madhya Pradesh state assembly until November 2023. But this is the state the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wrested from Congress not by winning the elections but by engineering defections. And therefore it has an iffy power projection. Also, reports from local polls recently showed the BJP struggling in several mayoral contests. Result: periodic …

MOSCOW: More than 400 people have been arrested at demonstrations across Russia against President Vladimir Putin’s announcement earlier of a partial mobilisation of civilians to fight in Ukraine, a police monitoring group said on Wednesday. The OVD-Info monitoring group said at least 425 people were detained at rallies in 24 different cities across the country after Putin’s announcement in an …

NEW YORK: The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations demanded on Wednesday that India must reverse all illegal and unilateral measures it took on or after Aug 5, 2019. OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha chaired the meeting. On August 5, 2019, India forcibly annexed illegally occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir, rescinding a special status granted …

Already battling record-low approval ratings, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has landed in trouble again after his disparaging remarks about key ally the United States were caught on a hot mic. Yoon, a political novice who took office in May, is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and chatted on Wednesday with Joe Biden during a photo …

A strong earthquake jolted Mexico on Thursday, sending people rushing out into the streets of the capital in the middle of the night, days after a powerful tremor left at least two people dead. The epicentre of the 6.9-magnitude quake was near the Pacific coast, 84 kilometres (52 miles) south of Coalcoman in the western state of Michoacan, the national …

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said that Pakistan had received no assistance from India in wake of the devastating floods that wreaked havoc in the country. In an interview with France 24 in New York, Bilawal was asked if the neighbouring country had offered any help and whether Pakistan asked for any. He replied in the negative to both the queries. On the current …