International

15-01-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Buying a new smartphone was a bit of a mission for Deepa Aswani, who works in marketing in Mumbai. “I am very particular about what phone I buy. I did not want to invest too much,” she says. After two months of deliberation, she chose …

15-01-2023 TEHRAN: Iran has executed a former deputy defence minister on allegations of spying for the United Kingdom. The judiciary’s official news outlet confirmed on Saturday morning that Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian dual national, was hanged after being convicted of “corruption on Earth” and acting against national security by spying …

15-01-2023 JERUSALEM/ TEL AVIV: Thousands of Israelis have gathered in Tel Aviv to protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the legal system and weaken the Supreme Court. The protest on Saturday presents an early challenge to Netanyahu and his ultranationalist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, …

14-01-2023 COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s central bank has urged China and India to agree a write-down of their loans as soon as possible. The crisis-hit Indian Ocean state defaulted on its debt repayments and negotiated a $2.9bn (£2.4bn) bailout but the International Monetary Fund will not release the cash until China …

14-01-2023 LOS ANGLES: A cousin of the Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors died hours after he was repeatedly tasered and restrained in the street by Los Angeles police. Keenan Anderson, 31, a teacher and father, died at a hospital in Santa Monica. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) have released …

14-01-2023 BEIJING: Some 900 million people in China have been infected with the coronavirus as of 11 January, according to a study by Peking University. The report estimates that 64% of the country’s population has the virus. It ranks Gansu province, where 91% of the people are reported to be …

14-01-2023 NEW YORK: Donald Trump on Friday will learn how the company that bears the former US president’s name will be punished after being found guilty of scheming to defraud tax authorities for 15 years. A New York state judge will impose the sentence after jurors in Manhattan found two …

14-01-2023 MOSCOW/ KYIV: Russia’s military says it has captured the Ukrainian salt-mine town of Soledar after a long battle, calling it an “important” step for its offensive. The victory would allow Russian troops to push on to the nearby city of Bakhmut, and cut off the Ukrainian forces there, a …

13-01-2023 Bureau Chief NEW DELHI/ BEIJING: The situation along the border with China is “stable but unpredictable”, Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande said on Thursday. However, he assured that India has maintained adequate force deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, and is “ready to deal …

13-01-2023 WASHINGTON: A “small number” of classified documents have been found at United States President Joe Biden’s residence in the state of Delaware, the White House has confirmed, saying the files were turned over to the Department of Justice. White House special counsel Richard Sauber said on Thursday that documents …