International

DUBAI: The UAE announced a new visa on Sunday allowing foreigners to work in the country without being sponsored by an employer, relaxing residency requirements in an attempt to boost economic growth. Foreigners in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates are generally only given limited visas tied to their employment, and long-term residency is difficult to obtain. But those holding the …

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Tens of thousands of farmers rallied near India’s capital on Sunday, vowing to remain defiant against the government over controversial agriculture laws they say will destroy their livelihoods. Chanting “farmer, labourer, unity!”, the men and women wore yellow and green scarves signifying harvest and mustard fields while waving national and farmer union flags in Uttar Pradesh state’s Muzaffarnagar district. …

Senior Taliban officials met in Kabul on Sunday with the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who promised to maintain assistance for the Afghan people, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political office and other officials met Martin Griffiths as Afghanistan faces a potentially catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by severe drought and a collapsing …

A self-described survivalist in body armour shot and killed four people, including a woman and her three-month-old baby boy in her arms, before surrendering to police in central Florida on Sunday, officials said. The shooter, identified as Bryan Riley, 33, a former US Marine, also wounded an 11-year-old girl who underwent surgery for seven gunshot injuries, Polk County Sheriff Grady …

Six Palestinians broke out of an Israeli prison on Monday through a tunnel dug beneath a sink, triggering a massive manhunt for the group. The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said an alert was sounded at roughly 3am by locals who spotted “suspicious figures” outside the Gilboa prison in the country’s north. The group includes Zakaria Zubeidi — a prominent former …

The Taliban said on Monday they have taken control of Panjshir province north of Kabul, the last holdout of anti-Taliban forces in the country and the only province the Taliban had not seized during their blitz across Afghanistan last month. Thousands of Taliban fighters overran eight districts of Panjshir overnight, according to witnesses from the area who spoke on condition of anonymity, …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday assured United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres of Pakis­tan’s support for the continuation of UN’s humanitarian work in Afghanistan, as Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hamid on Saturday travelled to Kabul for meeting Taliban leaders. A readout of the teleph­one conversation between PM Khan and Secretary Gen­eral Guterres said: “Prime …

MARSEILLE: Trapped on island habitats made smaller by rising seas, Indonesia’s Komodo dragons were listed as “endangered” on Saturday, in an update of the wildlife Red List that also warned overfishing threatens nearly two-in-five sharks with extinction. About 28 per cent of the 138,000 species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for its survival watchlist …

BANGKOK: Pro-democracy protesters vented their anger in Bangkok’s heavy rain on Saturday after Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-cha survived a no-confidence vote in parliament. More than 300 demonstrators marched in central Bangkok’s main shopping mall district carrying red flags and wearing ponchos in the downpour. Thai media were abuzz with rumours that the secretary general of the military-backed ruling party …

TOKYO/KUALA LUM­PUR: The Japanese government plans to extend a state of emergency in and around Tokyo until the last week of September in a further bid to contain the coronavirus epidemic, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Saturday. Japan last month expanded emergency curbs of its population until Sept 12, but the number of severe cases and the strain on the …