International

(Courtesy India Today) Father slaps me for friendship with Muslim guy: Sunaina MUBMAI: Last week, Hrithik Roshan’s sister Sunaina made headlines when she said that her family was not accepting her boyfriend Ruhail Amin, because he was a Muslim. In an interview to News 18, Ruhail said, “This incident has …

By SJA Jafri + Monitoring Desk MADRID/ PARIS: Intense heat is forecast across much of Continental Europe over the coming days. Temperatures are expected to peak at close to 40°C today in Paris and it is unclear how long this heatwave will last. June is typically a month of gentle …

By SJA Jafri + ABC News MELBOURNE/ JAKARTA/ DARWIN: An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck in a remote area of Indonesia in the Banda Sea on Monday, but there were no initial tsunami warnings. The quake hit at a depth of 220 km (136 miles), the USGS said. There were …

By SJA Jafri + Agencies MELBOURNE/ RIYADH: A Yemeni rebel attack on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia killed a Syrian national and wounded seven civilians Sunday, a Riyadh-led coalition said, the latest in a series of strikes on the site. “A terrorist attack by the Iranian-backed Huthi militia …

By SJA Jafri (Courtesy Messenger) MELBOURNE/ DARWIN: Secret planning has begun for a new port facility just outside Darwin which could eventually help US Marines operate more readily in the Indo-Pacific. Precise details remain tightly guarded but senior defence and federal government figures concede the proposal may risk angering China …

By SJA Jafri + BBC MELBOURNE/ ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says the country’s Defence Chief of Staff has been shot following unrest in the northern Amhara region. Appearing on TV dressed in military fatigues, Abiy also said several officials had been killed in an attack in the …

By SJA Jafri with PTI inputs MELBOURNE/ WASHINGTON/ NEW DELHI: Mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities, particularly Muslims, continued in India in 2018, amid rumors that victims had traded or killed cows for beef, an official US report said on Saturday. The State Department, in its annual 2019 …

By SJA Jafri + IRBA MELBOURNE/ TEHRAN: Iran has executed a former defence ministry worker who was spying for the United States, according to a report aired on state-run TV. The worker, named as Jalal Hajizavar, was hanged in a prison near Tehran after admitting in a military court he …

By SJA Jafri + Guardian MELBOURNE/ LONDON: Police were called to the home of Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds in the early hours of this morning after a heated argument between the pair. A neighbour made the call after hearing screaming and shouting coming from their plush home in south …

By SJA Jafri + AP MELBOURNE/ NEW YORK: A New York-based advice columnist has claimed Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s, according to a first-person account published by New York magazine. The US President has denied the allegations and …