International

20-07-2022 COLOMBO: Sri Lankan lawmakers voted in acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president on Wednesday, hoping his long experience in government would help pull the country out of a crippling economic and political crisis. The mood of protesters was muted, with only around 100 people on the steps …

19-07-2022 Bureau Report KERALA: A female student was allegedly forced to take off her undergarments before she was allowed to sit for the medical exam. The incident took place in Kerala, India, when a girl was asked to take off her bra because the metal hooks beeped while she was …

19-07-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban have asked female employees in the country to send a male relative to offices to do the work on their behalf. The announcement came a year after female employees working in the public sector were banned from government jobs …

19-07-2022 PARIS: The governments of France and the United Arab Emirates signed on Monday a strategic agreement to cooperate in the energy sector, the French government said. The partnership aimed to identify joint investment projects in France, the UAE or elsewhere in the sectors of hydrogen, renewable and nuclear energy, …

19-07-2022 Oil prices fell on Tuesday, taking a breather after surging more than $5 a barrel in the previous session as a plunging dollar supported buying interest and on expectations the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike may be less than thought. Brent crude futures for September settlement fell 69 …

19-07-2022 LONDON: Britain’s former finance minister Rishi Sunak held onto his lead in the race to become Britain’s next prime minister on Monday as another hopeful was knocked out, leaving four candidates in an increasingly bitter contest to replace Boris Johnson. Sunak got 115 votes in the third ballot of …

18-07-2022 TEHRAN/ MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Tuesday. The meeting, which will include Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will take place in the trilateral “Astana format” aimed at resolving differences in Syria, but there is much more at …

18-07-2022 BISHKEK: An award-winning Imam in Muslim-majority Kyrgyzstan has blamed women’s thighs for the skyrocketing prices of meat in the country. He said that women have cheapened them by showing too much of their skin. Imam Sadybakas Doolov said in a program in the capital city of Bishkek, “Do you …

18-07-2022 LONDON/ PARIS: Parts of Europe including France and Britain were on high alert Monday as temperatures were expected to surpass 42°C (107°F) in some regions, with one French meteorologist warning of a “heat apocalypse” and the UK weather service warning the heat posed a “risk to life”. France was …

18-07-2022 TEHRAN: Iran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has not decided whether to build one, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told media. Kamal Kharrazi spoke a day after US President Joe Biden ended his four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, …