International

05-05-2024 Bureau Report PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has experienced its “wettest April since 1961”, receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country’s weather agency has said. April rainfall was recorded at 59.3mm (2.3 inches), “excessively above” the normal average of 22.5mm (0.9 inches), the metrology …

05-05-2024 LONDON/ PARIS/ NEW YORK: A growing global student movement to occupy university campuses has continued to coalesce and expand in recent days, following dramatic scenes involving pro-Palestinian protesters and police captured on cameras at American colleges. Student groups in the United Kingdom, France and Mexico among others have sought …

05-05-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: Police in India have arrested the social media head of one of the country’s main opposition parties over a doctored video of the interior minister. The Congress Party’s Arun Revanth Reddy was detained on Friday, accused of being behind a widely-shared video showing …

05-05-2024 UNITED NATIONS/ GAZA CITY: All Palestinian journalists covering Israel’s war on Gaza have been awarded UNESCO’s world press freedom prize, the United Nations cultural agency has said. “In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists …

05-05-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies QUEENSLAND: Police in Australia have launched an investigation following a complaint by Queensland MP Brittany Lauga that she was drugged and sexually assaulted. The assistant minister for health said she was attacked on a night out in her constituency of Yeppoon. “This could have happened …

05-05-2024 OTTAWA/ NEW DELHI: Three Indian nationals have been arrested and charged over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada, which sparked a major diplomatic row between the two countries. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead last June by masked gunmen in a busy car park in …

05-05-2024 NEW DELHI/ TOKYO: India and Japan have rejected President Joe Biden’s remarks calling the US allies “xenophobic” countries who do not welcome immigrants, and grouping the two nations with China and Russia. India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the country has historically been open to immigrants and …

05-05-2024 CAIRO: Efforts have intensified to secure a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, with talks resuming in Cairo on Saturday. Hamas said its delegation was travelling in a “positive spirit” after studying the latest truce proposal. “We are determined to secure an agreement in …

UNITED NATIONS/ GAZA CITY: The level of destruction in Gaza has not been since World War II, according to a United Nations official who estimated that post-war reconstruction could cost up to $50bn. “We have not seen anything like this since 1945,” Abdallah al-Dardari, director of the regional bureau for …

04-05-2024 PARIS/ LONDON/ NEW YORK: Political attacks on journalists are increasing across the globe, according to the annual World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. These attacks include the detention of journalists, the spreading of misinformation and suppression of independent voices. With more than half of the world’s …