International

JERUSALEM: A Russian decision to shut down an agency that processes the immigration of Jews to Israel would be a “serious event” impacting bilateral ties, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday. A Moscow court said last week that the justice ministry had requested the “dissolution” of the Jewish Agency because of unspecified legal violations, and set a hearing for …

ATHENS: Greece on Sunday battled three wildfires across the country which forced hundreds to evacuate, as soaring temperatures raised fears of more blazes. The country is in the grip of a heatwave that began on Saturday and is expected to last 10 days. Temperatures were set to rise to 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in some regions. Experts blame …

BERLIN: The whistleblower behind the “Panama Papers” which revealed major tax evasion and fraud worldwide said he feared Russian retribution, in an interview published on Saturday by Germany’s Der Spiegel. The magazine quoted him under his pseudonym John Doe as saying he had evidence of financial wrongdoing by top Russian officials and their allies which helped fund the war in Ukraine. Asked by Spiegel whether he feared …

WASHINGTON: Tens of millions of Americans already baking in a scorching heatwave braced on Saturday for record-setting temperatures to climb, while a major fire ravaged part of California. The country’s central and northeast regions face the brunt of the extreme temperatures, which are not expected to peak until Sunday at the earliest and have sent public health officials scrambling. More …

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump and his ex-wingman Mike Pence, who went from White House partners to bitter rivals, held dueling rallies on Friday in Arizona, where an upcoming Republican primary election offers an early test of their potential 2024 showdown. The convergence of campaign events came a day after a congressional hearing on the US Capitol assault, in which a White …

LONDON: Unions, port officials and the French authorities blamed Brexit on Saturday as thousands of holidaymakers faced long delays trying to reach Europe via the English Channel port of Dover. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss laid the blame squarely on Paris, insisting: “The French authorities have not put enough people on the border.” But officials on the other side of …

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas on Saturday came down hard upon the critics of a proposed tourism promotion body, terming them antagonists of development and prosperity of the state. Early this week, reports emerged that the government was contemplating establishing a “tourism authority” and “special tourism zone(s)” through an amended piece of legislation that …

SHANGHAI: China’s homegrown C919 narrow-body jet, designed to challenge the Airbus-Boeing duopoly, is nearing certification as its test planes completed all of the test flight tasks, the company said on Saturday. The state-owned manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) said on its official social media account that the six test planes have finished the testing tasks as the programme …

TOKYO: The man accused of assassinating Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe is set to undergo an examination of his mental condition around the time of the incident, local media reported on Saturday. Abe was gunned down on the campaign trail on July 8 in the western city of Nara, two days before the country’s upper house elections. His accused killer Tetsuya …

GRANTHAM: Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday described himself as the underdog in the contest to become Britain’s next prime minister. Sunak’s resignation helped trigger a revolt that saw Prime Minister Boris Johnson agree to step down after a series of scandals. Members of the ruling Conservative Party will vote for a successor over the summer, with an …