International

OSTRA (Italy): Ten people died and four were missing after heavy rain sparked major flooding in central Italy on Thursday, pushing the issue of climate change up the agenda the week before elections. Prime Minister Mario Draghi confirmed the toll before heading to the town of Ostra, one of the places worst hit when more than 400 millimetres of rain …

SAMARKAND (Uzbekistan): Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping looked to rally Asian leaders behind a new “international order” as they met on Friday for a summit aimed at challenging Western influence. But cracks in summit solidarity quickly appeared, with the Indian prime minister telling Putin it was “not the time” for the conflict in Ukraine and the forces …

Eight radio-collared African cheetahs step out onto the grassland of Kuno National Park in central India, their final destination after a 8,000-kilometre journey from Namibia that has drawn criticism from some conservationists. The arrival of the big cats — the fastest land animal on Earth — coincides with the 72nd birthday of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who released the …

SAMARKAND: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that now was not the time for war, directly assailing the Kremlin chief in public over the nearly seven-month-long conflict in Ukraine. Putin has repeatedly said Russia is not isolated because it can look eastwards to major Asian powers such as China and India. But at the …

MARKAND (Uzbekistan): Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday, hailing their strategic ties in defiance of the West. Sitting across from each other at two long rounded tables and flanked by aides, the two leaders met on the sidelines of a summit …

KYIV: Ukrainian Presi­dent Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday his war-scarred country wanted to join the European single market ahead of a decision on whether to grant Kyiv full EU membership. Zelensky was speaking at a press conference with EU president Ursula von der Leyen who came to Kyiv to work out a roadmap for Ukraine’s long-standing aspiration to join the …

Taiwan said on Friday ties between Russia and China were a threat to global peace and that the international community must resist the “expansion of authoritarianism”. Russia’s Vladimir Putin met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday, hailing their strategic ties in defiance of the West. In the Uzbek city …

COLOMBO: Bankrupt Sri Lanka’s economy shrank 8.4 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, official data showed on Thursday, as the island nation’s unprecedented financial crisis reached its peak. Months of acute food, fuel and medicine shortages, extended blackouts and runaway inflation have plagued the country after it ran out of dollars to finance even the most essential imports. Sri …

YEREVAN: A ceasefire was holding on Thursday on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Yerevan said, after the worst clashes since 2020 killed dozens of troops and jeopardised a fledgling peace process. The clashes that erupted on Tuesday ended “thanks to the international involvement” overnight on Thursday, Armenia’s security council said, after earlier failed attempts from Russia to broker a truce. Baku and …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday rejected as baseless an Indian propaganda that Chinese engineers and staff have abandoned repair of the 969-megawatt Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project. Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar told a weekly press briefing that India was once again churning out false and baseless reports about the hydropower project. He said a fault was detected in the project and is currently undergoing …