International

OSLO: Norwegian police said they had arrested 20 Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion campaigners who on Monday blocked a tanker from delivering Russian oil to an Exxon Mobil terminal. In a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, activists had fastened their red rubber dinghy to the Ust Luga’s anchor chain, Greenpeace said, as they sought to prevent it offloading an estimated …

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Monday sentenced leading intellectual and rights campaigner Osman Kavala to life in jail on highly controversial coup plot charges that had already seen him locked up without a conviction for more than four years. The panel of three judges also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years in jail each on charges of aiding the …

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced on Tuesday it would sell long-term visas to attract desperately needed foreign currency after the island nation ran out of dollars to pay for food and fuel. Foreigners who deposit a minimum of $100,000 locally will be granted permission to live and work in Sri Lanka for 10 years under the “Golden Paradise Visa Programme,” the …

Moscow accused Nato of engaging in a proxy battle against Russia by arming Ukraine, saying this had created a serious and real risk of nuclear war. In a marked escalation of Russian rhetoric, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked on state television about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 …

YENAGAO: An explosion killed 110 people at an illegal oil refining depot in Nigeria on Saturday. “There are so many people that died here. I’m pleading to the government to look into this,” Uche Woke, a commercial bike rider, said at the scene of the blast. The Nigerian Red Cross Society was on the scene on Sunday to assess the …

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank Group (WBG) has devised a roadmap outlining a medium-term targeted approach encompassing 15 months till ending June 2023 to respond the crisis in the wake of war in Ukraine in the amount of $170 billion. This roadmap will support developing countries as they address the human and development setbacks caused by compounding crises — impacts of …

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Min­ister Yair Lapid said on Sunday that Israel was “committed” to the status quo that prevents Jews praying at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the epicentre of repeated clashes. His comments follow violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories that has killed 38 people since late March, with tensions further fuelled by the clashes in Jerusalem …

COLOMBO: Thousands of Sri Lankan university students mobbed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s home on Sunday demanding his resignation over the island nation’s worsening economic crisis. Months of lengthy blackouts, record inflation and acute food and fuel shortages have sparked increasing public discontent in Sri Lanka, which is dealing with its worst economic downturn since independence in 1948. Sunday’s protest saw …

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Iraq Hamid Abbas Lafta has said that Pakistan and Iraq will sign agreements on cooperation in various sectors, including trade promotion and tariff rationalisation, to enhance bilateral economic and trade ties. Pakistan and Iraq will sign 10 agreements to promote such cooperation in coming June, which will mark the beginning of a new era in enhancing bilateral …

Pakistan on Monday slammed India’s University Grants Commission for advising its students against travelling to Pakistan for the purpose of seeking higher education and sought a “clarification” from the Indian government over the matter. The statement from the Foreign Office comes in the wake of a notice issued by the All lndia Council for Technical Education and University of Grants Commission of …