International

BUDAPEST: The Hun­ga­rian government on Tuesday rejected US President Joe Biden’s accusation that Prime Minister Viktor Orban was “looking for dictatorship”, summoning the US ambassador over the claim. Relations between the two Nato allied countries have been frosty over the past years, as the United States has frequently criticised Hungary for its close relations with Russia, for holding up Sweden’s …

YAFTAL SUFLA: Tearing off a piece of mouldy flatbread, Homayon gulped tea in a brief reprieve from the din of the machines he and a dozen other men were using to dig for gold on a mountainside in northeastern Afghanistan. The 30-year-old found little work as a mechanic in nearby Faizabad city, so he banded with other unemployed men to …

A Chinese military delegation recently visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal to discuss further cooperation in defence issues, Beijing said on Wednesday. Beijing is seeking to build closer ties in South Asia in a push to counter its strategic rival India for influence. Last week, the Maldives said it had signed a “military assistance” deal with China after ordering Indian troops deployed in …

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the US sent troops to Ukraine, it would be considered a significant escalation of the conflict. Putin, speaking just days before a March 15-17 election which is certain to give him another six years in power, said the nuclear war scenario …

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah said on Tuesday it launched over 100 rockets at Israel’s two military bases in retaliation for a strike on the country’s east that killed one person the day before. Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted in October, but several Israeli strikes have recently hit Hezbollah positions further north, raising …

SEOUL: South Korea said on Monday it had started procedures to suspend the medical licences of 4,900 junior doctors who have resigned and stopped working to protest government medical training reforms, causing healthcare chaos. The walkout, which started Feb 20, is over government plans to sharply increase the number of doctors, which it says is essential to combat shortages and serve South …

Auckland: At least 50 people were hurt when a Boeing 787 operated by LATAM Airlines dropped abruptly mid-flight from Sydney to Auckland on Monday, according to the airline and a New Zealand health service organisation that treated the injured. The aircraft experienced a strong shake and as a result 10 passengers and three cabin crew members were taken to a …

NEW DELHI: India has successfully test-fired a domestically developed ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads for the first time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday. Modi said he was “proud” the launch of “the first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology”, in comments on social media platform X. The …

NEW DELHI: Four years after the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was enacted, the Narendra Modi government on Monday notified necessary rules for the law to be implemented. The timing of the long expected announcement coincided with the Supreme Court’s order to the State Bank of India to produce and publish by March 15 the list and details of beneficiaries of …

LONDON: Embattled UK leader Rishi Sunak suffered a fresh blow on Monday when a former ally defected to a right-wing populist party that is worrying the ruling Conservatives ahead of this year’s general election. Lee Anderson announced that he was joining Reform UK, weeks after he was suspended from Sunak’s Conservative party over comments widely condemned as racist and Islamophobic. …