International

RABAT: Israel’s army chief arrived in Morocco on Monday for meetings with senior defence officials, military sources said, as cooperation between the countries expands following a normalisation of ties. Aviv Kohavi’s three-day trip is the first official visit of an Israeli army chief to the North African kingdom. Kohavi will meet Morocco’s minister delegate in charge of defence administration, Abdellatif …

Twitter Inc on Monday accused Elon Musk of trying to “slow walk” the company’s lawsuit to hold him to his $44 billion takeover and urged a September trial to ensure deal financing remains in place, according to a court filing. “Millions of Twitter shares trade daily under a cloud of Musk-created doubt,” the company wrote. “No public company of this size and …

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Kremlin leader’s first trip outside the former Soviet Union since Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine. In Tehran, Putin will also hold his first face-to-face meeting since the invasion with a NATO leader, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss a deal aimed at allowing …

Indian traders and shopkeepers will hold a nationwide protest next week against a hike in taxes on a range of products and services, including food grains and household items, that went into effect on Monday, a top official of a leading traders’ group said. “The five per cent tax on a range of food products — which remained tax-free so …

A gunman killed three people when he opened fire in the food court of a shopping mall outside the US city of Indianapolis on Sunday before a bystander fatally shot the assailant, Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison said. Two other people were injured in the incident, which took place in the early evening at Greenwood Park Mall, the Indianapolis Star reported. “The …

WASHINGTON: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s conspiracy claims are ‘very disturbing,’ says a US State Department official while underlining Wash­ington’s desire to rebuild a strong partnership with Pakistan. Addressing a convention of Pakistani physicians in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Director Pakistan Desk Neil W. Hop described US-Pakis­tan relations as “a partnership we cannot do without”. “We have to work with Pakistan in …

ATHENS: A Ukrainian cargo plane carrying munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh crashed near the city of Kavala in northern Greece late on Saturday, killing the crew members on board, Serbian authorities and Meridian airline said on Sunday. Drone images from the scene showed smouldering debris from the Antonov An-12 aircraft strewn in fields. Greek authorities said there were eight crew …

SUVA: Pacific island nations, courted by China and the United States, put the superpowers on notice, telling the world’s two biggest carbon emitters to take more action on climate change while pledging unity in the face of a growing geopolitical contest. Leaders at a four-day summit of the Pacific Islands Forum, meeting in Fiji’s capital Suva, bristled at a Chinese …

LONDON: The head of Britain’s armed forces has dismissed as “wishful thinking” speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is suffering from ill-health or could be assassinated. As the Conservative party chooses a successor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Admiral Tony Radakin also said Britain’s next leader should be aware that Russia poses “the biggest threat” to the UK and that …

DUBAI: Iran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has not decided whether to build one, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Qatar’s al Jazeera TV on Sunday. Kamal Kharrazi spoke a day after US President Joe Biden ended his four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, vowing to stop Iran from “acquiring a nuclear weapon”. Kharrazi’s …