International

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Thursday he had “personally approved” the dramatic raid on Donald Trump’s Florida home and, in a highly unusual move, was requesting the warrant justifying the search be made public. The country’s top prosecutor did not reveal the reason for the unprecedented search of the residence of a former American president, and condemned “unfounded …

ISLAMABAD: The new ambassador of the European Union Dr Riina Kionka assumed her responsibility in Pakistan. Ahead of the 75th Independence Day of the country and as a commemoration for 60 years of EU-Pakistan relations, she played the national anthem on trumpet. This unique way to mark Aug 14 was shared through a special campaign on social media on Thursday. …

Cincinnati: Police were locked in a standoff on Thursday with an armed man who tried to breach the FBI building in Cincinnati, Ohio, earlier in the day before fleeing and exchanging gunfire with officers, authorities said. The incident was still active as of Thursday afternoon but contained, an Ohio state official told reporters in a press briefing. Authorities said no …

UNITED NATIONS: China on Thursday defended its decision to delay a proposal by the United States and India at the UN Security Council to sanction Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and brother of the militant group’s founder and leader Masood Azhar. India and the United States want Abdul Rauf to be subjected to a global travel …

PARIS: The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet over the last 40 years, according to research published on Thursday that suggests climate models are underestimating the rate of polar heating. The United Nations’ climate science panel said in a special report in 2019 that the Arctic was warming “by more than double the …

DUBAI: The former US lawyer of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been convicted of money-laundering and fined but had a jail sentence overturned by a court in the UAE. Asim Ghafoor was convicted of “money-laundering crimes linked to a US-based tax evasion operation”, the official WAM news agency said late on Wednesday. The Abu Dhabi Money Laundering and Tax Evasion Court …

MOSCOW: Russian investigators on Wednesday laun­ched a criminal probe against Marina Ovsya­nnikova, who denounced President Vlad­imir Putin’s attack on Ukraine on live TV, and detained the journalist, her lawyer said. In mid-July, Ovsyannikova staged a one-woman protest near the Kremlin, holding a poster that read “Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists.” Three “blood-soaked” toy dolls were laid on …

BEIJING: A Chinese court rejected an appeal in a landmark sexual harassment case on Wednesday, dealing a blow to the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement. Zhou Xiaoxuan stepped forward in 2018 to accuse popular state TV host Zhu Jun of forcibly kissing and groping her during her 2014 internship at the broadcaster. Zhou’s case inspired many others to share their experiences …

LANDIRAS: A wildfire that officials thought was under control in southwest France has reignited amid a record drought and extreme heat, possibly the result of arson, officials said on Wednesday. More than 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) of tinder-dry forest have burned in just 24 hours in the so-called Landiras blaze, the largest of several that scorched the region last month. …

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department said on Wedn­esday it had uncovered an Iranian plot to kill former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, and announced charges against a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Justice Department said 45-year-old Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, had offered to pay an individual in the United States $300,000 to …