International

MEXICO CITY: US Vice President Kamala Harris held talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday during a visit to the region aimed at tackling the “root causes” of a surge in migrant arrivals. The two leaders witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between their countries on cooperation in aid and development in Central America. “We’re …

PARIS: G7 states have found a way to include Amazon, one of the world’s biggest companies, on a list of 100 set to face higher taxes in the countries where they do business by targeting its more profitable cloud computing unit, officials close to the talks said. Some European countries had concerns that Amazon may fall out of scope of …

NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council backed Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday for a second term, recommending that the 193-member General Assembly appoint him for another five years from Jan 1 of next year. Estonia’s UN Ambassador Sven Jrgenson, council president for this month, said the General Assembly was likely to meet to make the appointment on June …

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a group of Muslim Americans who accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of illegally targeting them for surveillance. On Monday, the court issued a statement saying that it will look at the FBI’s use of an informant to collect information from several Los Angeles and Orange County …

WASHINGTON: The US pullout from Afghanistan is more than 50 per cent complete, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, as it approaches its Sept 11 deadline to remove troops. Since President Joe Biden ordered the departure from Afghanistan in April, the Department of Defence has withdrawn the equivalent of approximately 500 C-17 loads of material, the US military’s Central Command (Centcom) …

THE HAGUE: United Nations war crimes judges on Tuesday upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, rejecting all grounds of appeal against a lower tribunal’s verdict. Mladic, 78, led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. He was convicted in 2017 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes including …

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on the opening day of its budget session on Monday witnessed the treasury and the opposition members indulged in a blame-game over the frequent train accidents as the lower house passed 10 bills, most of them in the absence of opposition members. The sitting was marred by noisy protest, frequent walkouts and repeated pointing out of …

PARIS: France’s competition regulator on Monday fined Google 220 million euros ($267 million) after finding it had abused its dominant market position for placing online ads, as US tech giants face growing pressure in Europe. The penalty is part of a settlement reached after three media groups — News Corp, French daily Le Figaro and Belgium’s Groupe Rossel — accused …

LONDON: Prime Minister Imran Khan and his British counterpart Boris Johnson in a telephone call on Monday discussed a range of issues, including the current situation in Afghanistan, global environmental challenges as well as the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Johnson also offered his condolences on the train accident that claimed dozens of lives in Ghotki. A handout from 10 Downing Street read: “The …

SYDNEY: A defamation trial opened on Monday pitting one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers against three major newspapers that accused him of war crimes in Afghanistan. Ben Roberts-Smith, a former member of Australia’s elite Special Air Services regiment, is suing the newspapers as well as individual journalists from all three over articles from 2018 that alleged he committed murder and …