International

SRINAGAR: Two Sikh workers were gunned down in India-held Kashmir, police said on Thursday. The officials said the two Sikh workers from India’s Punjab state were shot on Wednesday, with one of them dying on the spot and the other succumbing to wounds at hospital on Thursday morning. The shooting came as a grim reminder of the killing of Sikh …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has confused a European leader with a dead predecessor for the second time in a week, telling a campaign event he met Helmut Kohl four years after the German chancellor passed away. The 81-year-old’s gaffe late on Wednesday came days after he said he had spoken to long-dead French president Francois Mitterand, instead of current …

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Thursday expressed concern over election-related violence and restrictions on internet and cellular access in Pakistan on the polling day. At a daily news briefing, Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson, also underscored the importance of a transparent and unrestricted electoral process.     When asked if the United States would accept the results of …

UNITED NATIONS: The UN aid coordination office (OCHA) warned on Tuesday that Israel’s invasion of the densely populated southern city of Rafah would constitute a war crime. “We, as the UN and member states, can bear witness,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists. “We can make it clear that under international humanitarian law, indiscriminate bombing of densely populated areas may …

The death toll in a firework factory explosion in India has risen to 11 and the two owners have been arrested, police said on Wednesday, a day after the devastating blast. District police chief Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan confirmed 11 deaths, while more than 150 people were injured. The fiery blast sent chunks of rock and metal flying far from the destroyed factory …

An Indian state on Wednesday passed a common civil code to replace religious laws, with supporters saying it protected women’s rights but critics fearing it heralds a countrywide rollout by the Hindu nationalist ruling party. The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) law, passed in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, has reignited a polarising debate weeks before expected national elections. Supporters say …

MANILA: A landslide triggered by heavy rains in a southern Philippine province buried 38 people and two buses, disaster officials said on Wednesday. The landslide happened on Tuesday night outside a gold mining site in the town of Maco in the province of Davao de Oro where the buses were picking up employees, mining operator Apex Mining said in a …

DAKAR: Mali has reaffirmed its exit “without delay” from the West African bloc, ECOWAS, saying it was not bound by the organisation’s one-year timeframe for withdrawal, according to a foreign ministry document seen by AFP on Wednesday. Bamako’s military government announced its withdrawal from ECOWAS on Jan 28, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. But article 91 of the bloc’s treaty …

WASHINGTON: Rep­u­blicans in the US Senate on Wednesday defeated a bipartisan effort to bolster border security that had taken months to negotiate, but said they could still approve aid for Israel and Ukraine that had been tied up in the deal. By a vote of 49-50, the Senate failed to approve a $118 billion bipartisan package that would tigh­ten immigration …

KYIV: Ukraine urged the West on Wednesday to speed up and increase deliveries of artillery shells after a “massive” new Russian missile attack on Kyiv and other regions killed at least five people and wounded more than 40. Securing the shells has been a priority for Kyiv, which is burning through its reserves as Russia throws more manpower and resources …