International

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka urged its citizens overseas to send home money to help pay for desperately needed food and fuel on Wednesday after announcing a default on its $51 billion foreign debt. The island nation is in the grip of its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, with severe shortages of essential goods and regular blackouts causing widespread hardship. …

BERLIN: Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday he was “irritated” by Kyiv’s rejection of a proposed visit by Germany’s president, a snub that has ruffled diplomatic feathers at a time when the war-hit nation is seeking more weapons from Berlin. The Ukrainian presidency has instead said it wants to welcome Scholz to Kyiv, but the chancellor indicated he had no …

MUMBAI: Indian software giant Infosys said on Wednesday it was “transitioning” out of the Russian market following the Ukraine war and conflict of interest accusations levelled at Rishi Sunak, the British finance minister. Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty holds a nearly $1 billion stake in the IT firm, which was founded by her father N. R. Narayana Murthy and established itself as a …

GENEVA: The WHO chief said on Wednesday that the world was treating humanitarian crises affecting black and white lives unequally, with only a “fraction” of the attention on Ukraine given elsewhere. World Health Organisation’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the emergencies happening in other parts of the world were not being taken as seriously and hoped the international community “comes …

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Wednesday congratulated newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and vowed to continue its long-standing cooperation with Pakistan’s government. Shehbaz was elected the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan on Monday after his predecessor, Imran Khan, was removed from office through a no-confidence vote last week. In a statement issued last night, Blinken expressed that …

VILNIUS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said investigators had received reports of “hundreds of cases of rape” in areas previously occupied by Russian troops, including sexual assaults of small children. Russian troops have been accused of widespread atrocities across the country, particularly in areas around Kyiv from which they have now withdrawn. Moscow denies the allegations. “In areas freed …

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka announced a default on its $51 billion foreign debt on Tuesday as the island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in memory and escalating protests demanding the government’s resignation. Acute food and fuel shortages, as well as long daily electricity blackouts, have brought widespread suffering to the country’s 22 million people in its most painful downturn …

WASHINGTON / ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday reiterated the need for cooperation with the United States and India, while assuring Beijing of further deepening of relations. “The new government wishes to constructively and positively engage with the US to promote shared goals of peace, security and development in the region,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in response to …

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s military published a handbook on Tuesday advising civilians on how to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion, including where to find bomb shelters and how to stockpile emergency supplies. China’s Communist Party has never controlled self-ruled Taiwan but it nonetheless views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force …

SEOUL: The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group is operating in waters off the Korean peninsula, the US Navy said on Tuesday, amid tensions over North Korea’s missile launches and concerns that it could soon resume testing nuclear weapons. “The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is conducting bilateral operations with the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force in the Sea of Japan,” Commander …