International

DOHA: A Taliban delegation arrived in Doha on Sunday in a new bid to convince governments to provide humanitarian aid, six months after the hardline Islamists toppled Afghanistan’s Western-backed regime, officials said. The delegation, led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, will meet with the EU delegation in Doha, diplomatic missions and officials from Gulf countries, the Taliban’s foreign ministry …

JERUSALEM: Israeli pol­ice clashed with Pales­tinians in the flashpoint east Jeru­salem neighbourhood of She­ikh Jarrah on Sunday, during a visit by a controversial far-right Jewish lawmaker that inflamed tensions. Police said they arrested eight people during the day for suspected involvement in “public riots and viole­nce,” in the area of annexed east Jerusalem that has emerged as a symbol of …

WASHINGTON: Russia could invade Ukraine at any time and might create a surprise pretext for an attack, the United States said on Sunday, as it reaffirmed a pledge to defend “every inch” of Nato territory. Russia has more than 100,000 troops massed near Ukraine, which is not part of the Atlantic military alliance, and Washington — while keeping open the …

A state in southern India reopened some schools on Monday that had been closed following protests last week over female students not being allowed to wear hijabs in class. The issue, widely seen by India’s Muslim minority community as a bid to sideline it by authorities in a Hindu-dominated nation, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepares for …

Israeli forces have shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian in West Bank clashes during what Israel on Monday described as an operation to demolish the home of a ‘terrorist’ suspected of a recent attack. The Palestinian health ministry said Mohammad Abu Salah was killed in the village of Silat al-Harithiya near the flashpoint town of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. …

Hundreds of Hindu nationalist protesters marched in the Indian state of Gujarat on Saturday, prompting the closure of stores owned by several multinational companies caught up in a furore over social media posts supporting occupied Kashmir. The messages were posted last week by the Pakistani branches of firms including Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and fast food chains Domino’s Pizza, Yum Brand Inc’s Pizza Hut and …

Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday condemned US President Joe Biden’s order freeing up $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the US for families of America’s 9/11 victims — saying the money belongs to Afghans. Protesters who gathered outside Kabul’s grand Eid Gah mosque asked America for financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the last 20 …

PAMPILHOSA SERRA: In central Portugal, a sustained drought has revealed the ruins of a village that was totally submerged underwater when a large reservoir was created nearly 70 years ago. “I have never seen that!” says Carlos Perdigao, 76, as he gazes at the ruined stone houses of Vilar which were swallowed up by the Zezere river when a dam …

PARIS: Paris police fired teargas and issued hundreds of fines on Saturday to break up a convoy of vehicles that attempted to block traffic in a protest over Covid restrictions and rising living costs. Inspired by the truckers that shut down the Canadian capital Ottawa, thousands of demonstrators from across France made their way to Paris in a self-proclaimed “freedom …

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not be distracted from focusing on tensions between Ukraine and Russia by receipt of a police questionnaire about lockdown parties at his Downing Street office, a government minister said on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police are contacting more than 50 people believed to have attended the parties to explain their involvement. On Friday, Johnson’s …