International

05 December, 2019 PARIS: France’s public transport networks have ground to a near halt as unions led a nationwide strike aimed at forcing President Emmanuel Macron to abandon plans to overhaul the country’s Byzantine pension system. Railway and metro stations in Paris were largely deserted on Thursdayas commuters dusted off old …

05 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri + Agencies NOUAKCHOTT/ MELBOURNE: At least 58 people, including women and children, were killed after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off the West African nation of Mauritania, the United Nations’ migration agency said on Wednesday. The perilous sea passage …

05 December, 2019 PYONGYANG/ NEW YORK: North Korea warned the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that it would consider any discussion of the country’s human rights situation a “serious provocation” that would increase tension on the Korean Peninsula. In a letter to the 15-member council members obtained by the …

04 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri + Agencies BEIJING/ WASHINGTON/ MELBOURNE: China reacted angrily after the US House of Representatives passed a bill requiring the Trump administration to toughen its response to Xinjiang, where the more than one million Muslims, mostly ethnic Uighurs, are being held in “re-education” camps. In a …

04 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri + TNA WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN/ MELBOURNE: US House Democrats accused Donald Trump of abusing his office for political gain and trying to obstruct the Ukrainegate investigation, in a highly anticipated report that paves the way for articles of impeachment and a trial in the Senate. …

04 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri + Agencies CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: Australia has repealed a medical evacuation law for asylum seekers and refugees detained in its so-called offshore processing centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru citing concerns about security, and triggering an angry response from opposition politicians and refugee advocates. With the upper …

03 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri SANA’A/ MELBOURNE: Amnesty International says more than four million people living with disabilities in Yemen lack access to basic care. The rights group says disabled people are most at risk because of the war between Houthi rebels and the UN-recognized government, which is backed by …

03 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri MELBOURNE: The start of Australia’s meteorological summer was marked by out-of-season snow that blanketed ski fields and alpine regions over the mountains in the southeast. For the second day in a row, Victoria’s Mt Hotham received significant snowfall. Hotham Alpine Resort reported that approximately 30cm …

Hyderabad Dec 2 (PMI): The members of the Majma-e-Olama wo Khutaba have jointly expressed their feelings about the current situation of “Iraq” and released a statement that the anti-Islamic sources have faced defeat on various occasions in Western Asia and Middle East in different parts particularly in Iran, Lebanon and …

02 December, 2019 By SJA Jafri + Agencies VALLETTA/ MELBOURNE: Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he will resign next month amid growing calls for his departure over the scandal surrounding the murder of prominent anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, Muscat said …