International

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has won a diplomatic victory by securing freedom for foreign fighters captured in Ukraine, signalling the value of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alliance with Russia to Western partners seeking to isolate Moscow over the war there, analysts say. Prince Mohammed may also find that the initiative — intentionally or otherwise — helps take him a step …

WASHINGTON: The Uni­ted States announced on Friday it was easing export restrictions on Iran to exp­and access to internet services, which have been cur­bed by the government amid a crackdown on protesters. In the aftermath of a woman’s death in custody of the country’s “morality police”, Tehran moved to cut off the internet in what the US Treasury said was …

KYIV: Russia began referendums on Friday aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine, raising the stakes of the seven-month-old war in what Kyiv called a sham that saw residents threatened with punishment if they did not vote. The votes on whether the regions should become part of Russia began after Ukraine earlier this month recaptured large swathes of north-eastern …

NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart on Friday that the maintenance of peace and stability over Taiwan was vitally important, as the two met with tensions high over the Chinese-claimed island. A senior US administration official told reporters after Blinken’s talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the margins of the United Nations …

Young activists rallied for climate action on Friday, staging protests from New Zealand and Japan to Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo to demand that rich countries pay for the damage global warming is inflicting upon the poor. The protests take place six weeks before this year’s UN climate summit, known as COP27, where vulnerable countries will push for …

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court told the government on Thursday to rein in TV channels that were spreading hate, and said it could not be a mute witness to the free for all. “Hate speech is layered… Like killing someone, you can do it in multiple ways, slowly or otherwise. They keep us hooked based on certain convictions,” the court …

KYIV: President Volo­dymyr Zelensky hailed as “superheroes” the senior Ukrainian commanders, including those who led the dogged defence of Mariupol, who were freed by Russia as part of a prisoner swap involving 270 people, including foreigners. Under the terms of the deal, which Turkiye helped broker, 215 Ukrainians — most of them captured after the fall of the port city …

LONDON: Britain’s University of Cambridge said on Thursday it had benefited from the proceeds of slavery over its history, and promised to expand scholarships for Black students and fund more research into the murderous trade. The acknowledgement comes as a string of leading institutions — from the Bank of England to the Church of England — have been re-evaluating the …

PARIS: Astronomers said on Thursday they have spotted a hot bubble of gas spinning clockwise around the black hole at the centre of our galaxy at “mind blowing” speeds. The detection of the bubble, which only survived for a few hours, is hoped to provide insight into how these invisible, insatiable, galactic monsters work. The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* …

KARACHI: British Home Secretary Suella Braverman met police officials in Leicester on Thursday amid persistent tensions between Muslims and Hindus after the Aug 28 Pakistan-India match at the Asia Cup, according to the BBC. Police have arrested 47 people over the past three weeks as young men from the two communities take to the streets almost every day, bringing fear and anxiety to the populace. …