International

KABUL: A United Arab Emirates company signed a contract with the Taliban authorities on Tuesday to provide ground handling services at Afghanistan’s three airports, officials said, as the country seeks to resume international transit. Capital Kabul’s only airport was trashed in August when tens of thousands of people rushed to evacuate as the US-led forces withdrew. While some domestic and …

ISLAMABAD: The Amnesty International says 2021 saw a worrying rise in executions and death sentences as some of the world’s most prolific executioners returned to business as usual and courts were unshackled from Covid-19 restrictions. In its annual review of the death penalty released on Tuesday, Amnesty estimates that at least 579 executions were known to have been carried out …

TOKYO: Chinese and Russian military planes conducted joint exercises to patrol the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday in a pointed farewell to US President Joe Biden as he concluded an Asia trip that rankled Beijing. Japan scrambled jets after Russian and Chinese warplanes neared its airspace while Tokyo was hosting the leaders of the Quad group of countries, which includes the …

LONDON: The UK’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year showed “systemic failures of leadership, planning and preparation”, according to a scathing inquiry by MPs published on Tuesday. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee probe revealed a “fundamental lack of planning, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency” before and during the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August …

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire on Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and the latest gruesome moment for a country scarred by a string of massacres. The attacker was killed by law enforcement. The death toll also …

DAVOS: Multiple threats to the global economy topped the worries of the world’s well-heeled at the annual Davos think-fest on Monday, with some flagging the risk of a worldwide recession. Political and business leaders gathering for the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet against the backdrop of inflation at its highest level in a generation in major economies, including the United …

SEOUL: A maskless Kim Jong Un was one of the pallbearers at the state funeral for a top military officer, North Korean state media reported on Monday, days after Pyongyang claimed the country’s Covid-19 outbreak was now under control. Kim on Sunday attended the funeral of Hyon Chol Hae, a Korean People’s Army marshal who reportedly mentored the North Korean …

YANGON: The bodies of 14 people have washed up on a beach in Myanmar, police said on Monday, with the UN Refugee Agency citing reports that the deceased include Rohingya children. At least 17 people are feared dead after their boat capsized, according to the UNHCR. A rescue organisation said the group had been attempting to reach Malaysia. “Fourteen dead …

LONDON: A judge jailed a disgraced MP from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative party for 18 months on Monday for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. The Tories expelled Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, and he resigned from his seat in parliament in the wake of his conviction after a trial last month. He had denied plying the 15-year-old youth …

COLOMBO: A shortage of medicine caused by an economic crisis in Sri Lanka could soon cause deaths, doctors said, as hospitals are forced to postpone life-saving procedures for their patients because they do not have the necessary drugs. Sri Lanka imports more than 80pc of its medical supplies but with foreign currency reserves running out because of the crisis, essential …