International

09-12-2020 JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON: A former Israeli space security chief made a surprising revelation by claiming that the United States and Israel are in contact with extraterrestrials from a “galactic federation.” In an interview with an Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Haim Eshed (87) said, “The Unidentified Flying Objects have asked not …

09-12-2020 BEIJING/ NEW YORK: A big-data program in China’s Xinjiang “arbitrarily selects” Muslims for detention, flagging behavior such as wearing a veil, studying the Quran or going on the Hajj pilgrimage as reasons for arrest, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). In a new report on Wednesday, the rights group said …

09-12-2020 RIYADH/ OTTAWA: Lawyers for Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) on Monday evening filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against him, saying there is no evidence to support claims he ordered a hit squad to assassinate a former Saudi intelligence official and that he is immune from …

08-12-2020 GENEVA/LONDON: A World Health Organization (WHO) official said Tuesday that only public health measures, not vaccines, can prevent a new surge of COVID-19 cases as the first vaccines are administered in Britain. “Vaccines are a great tool, they will be very helpful, but the effect of the vaccine in …

08-12-2020 TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence against dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam for fuelling anti-government unrest in 2017 on social media, a judiciary spokesman said. “Yes, the Supreme Court … has upheld the sentence passed by the Revolutionary Court in this case,” spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told a …

08-12-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: Sikh farmers in India on Monday demonstrated religious solidarity at the farmers’ protest by standing up with their Muslim counterparts. In a video shared on Twitter by Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, some Muslim participants at the farmer’s protest in Delhi …

07-12-2020 LONDON: The United Kingdom and European Union will make a last-ditch attempt to strike a post-Brexit trade deal this week, with just days left for negotiators to avert a chaotic divorce at the end of the year. Micheal Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, which would face more economic …

07-12-2020 TEHRAN: A satellite-controlled machine-gun with “artificial intelligence” was used to kill Iran’s top nuclear scientist, a Revolutionary Guards commander says. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot dead in a convoy outside Tehran on 27 November. On Sunday, Brig-Gen Ali Fadavi told local media the weapon, mounted in a pick-up truck, had …

07-12-2020 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ HYDERABAD: At least one person has died and 227 have been hospitalized by an unidentified illness in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The patients had a wide range of symptoms from nausea to fits and falling unconscious, doctors said. Officials are investigating the cause …

07-12-2020 Bureau Report + ABC News SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: Storms or tropical cyclones usually get the blame when Australia’s beaches suffer severe erosion. But on the New South Wales north coast at Byron Bay, another force is at play. Over the past six months, tourists and locals have been shocked to …