International

PARIS: A loosely federated network of scientists in more than two dozen countries plan acts of civil disobedience starting this week to highlight the climate crisis, members of Scientist Rebellion said. Their non-violent actions are timed to the release on Monday of a landmark report from the UN’s climate science advisory panel laying out options for slashing carbon pollution and …

KABUL: An explosion in the centre of the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday killed one person and wounded at least 59 others, hospital officials said. In a tweet, Kabul’s Emergency Hospital said one body was received at the hospital and 59 people were treated, with 30 of the wounded being admitted for further treatment. It did not specify the …

TEHRAN: Over 250 women working in Iran’s film industry have signed a statement condemning what they call “systematic” sexual harassment and demanding a committee address the issue. People in power in Iranian cinema are known to exploit their positions “to bully, threaten, insult, humiliate and assault women,” they charged. “Acts of violence are systematic,” said the statement signed by some …

SACRAMENTO: Six people were killed and 10 injured in a mass shooting early on Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in California’s state capital were searching for at least one suspect. Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said at a news conference that police were patrolling the area at about 2am when they heard gunfire. …

WASHINGTON: Despite growing tensions in bilateral ties, the United States still wants Pakistan to continue playing its role in bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. On March 31, both Pakistan and the United States participated in yet another meeting of the so-called Extended Troika for Afghan­istan, which also includes Russia and China. All four countries sent their special envoys for Afghanistan to …

SANAA: Yemen’s warring parties are set to lay down their weapons for the first nationwide truce since 2016 on Saturday, with all eyes on whether the UN-brokered ceasefire will hold. The Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-led coalition have both agreed to observe the two-month truce, which is to take effect at 1600 GMT on the first day of the Muslim holy …

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s government imposed a weekend curfew on Saturday, even as hundreds of lawyers urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to revoke a state of emergency introduced after the unrest over fuel and other shortages in a deep economic crisis. The information department said a countrywide curfew would run from 6pm (1230GMT) on Saturday to 6am (0030GMT) on Monday. President Rajapaksa …

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday holds his first rally of the French election campaign, with far-right rival Marine Le Pen eating into what once seemed his unassailable lead barely a week ahead of the ballot. The centrist Macron threw his hat into the election ring at the last moment and has been distracted by the war in Ukraine, conducting …

WASHINGTON: The US National Transportation Safety Board said on Saturday it was assisting Chinese aviation officials in downloading data from the cockpit voice recorder of the Boeing 737-800 that crashed in southern China last month. The China Eastern jetliner was flying between the cities of Kunming and Guangzhou on March 21 when it nosedived into a mountainside, disintegrating on impact …

NEW YORK: A request for a new trial by Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Jeffrey Epstein associate who was convicted of child sex trafficking late last year, was denied on Friday by a federal judge in New York. Maxwell’s lawyers filed for a retrial in January after juror Scotty David — identified by his first and middle names — told media …