International

LOS ANGELES: Pro-Palestinian protests spread to more college campuses in the United States on Thursday as authorities appeared to be running out of patience and police carried out large-scale arrests. Students at some of the country’s most prestigious universities have staged occupations over the growing human toll of Israel’s aggression in Gaza. Sit-ins and boisterous demonstrations, including a new one …

India’s six-week election juggernaut resumed on Friday with millions of people lining up outside polling stations in parts of the country hit by a scorching heatwave. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a third term in the election, which concludes in early June. But turnout in the first round of voting last week dropped nearly four …

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday told top US diplomat Antony Blinken that the world’s two biggest economies should be “partners, not rivals”, but that there were a “number of issues” to be resolved in their relations. Blinken, in China for the second time in less than a year, met leading Chinese politicians in Beijing. US officials said he would …

PARIS: The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has accused Apple of using “illegally exploited” minerals extracted from the country’s embattled east in its products, lawyers representing the African country said on Thursday. The DRC’s lawyers have sent Apple a formal cease and desist notice, effectively warning the tech giant it could face legal action if the alleged practice …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to China on Wednesday on his second visit in a year, as the United States ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat will meet China’s top brass on Friday in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead …

NASIRIYAH: Iraqi authorities executed 11 people convicted of “terrorism” this week, security and health sources said on Wednesday, with rights group Amnesty International condemning an “alarming lack of transparency”. Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president. A security source in southern Dhi Qar province said that 11 …

MADRID: Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he would suspend public duties until next week to decide whether he wants to continue leading the government after a court launched a business corruption probe into his wife’s private dealings. Sanchez, who last year secured another term for his Socialist party as leader of a minority coalition government, said he …

VIENNA: Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Miss Lieser, a painting of a young woman left unfinished when the Austrian artist died, sold at auction on Wednesday for 30 million euros ($32m) despite open questions about its subject and previous ownership. The painting was commissioned by brothers Adolf and Justus Lieser, who were industrialists in the Austro-Hungarian empire. They had built their …

LONDON: The Amnesty International on Wednesday stated that the post-World War II order, was on the “brink of collapse”. It said that bitter conflicts on multiple fronts due to the rapid and unregulated rise of artificial intelligence, are also ‘threatening’. “Everything we’re witnessing over the last 12 months is indicating that the international global system is on the brink of …

LONDON: MQM sup­remo Altaf Hussain appe­ared in a UK High Court on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of a two-day hearing in his appeal against the MQM-P in a case related to London properties. The court heard arguments from both sides and reserved its verdict, which is expected this week. Last year, the MQM-P had triumphed over Mr Hussain when the court …