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01-09-2022 UNITED NATIONS/ BEIJING: China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity, the outgoing UN human rights chief said in a long-awaited report on Wednesday. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has faced criticism from some …

01-09-2022 COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of about $2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out its worst economic crisis in decades. The agreement, which Reuters first reported on Wednesday, is …

31-08-2022 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Surpassing Louis Vuitton’s Bernard Arnault, India’s Gautam Adani is now the third-richest man in the world, becoming the first Asian to reach the top three, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Just behind Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, Adani’s net worth is now $137 billion. Arnault …

31-08-2022 OTTAWA/ DAMASCUS: Mohammed al-Rashed, a spy working for Canadian intelligence, smuggled British schoolgirl Shamima Begum and her two friends into Syria in 2015, according to a new book and British media reports that prompted demands for an official inquiry. The Secret History of the Five Eyes by Richard Kerbaj, …

31-08-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban declared Wednesday a national holiday and decorated the capital with colored lights to celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan. The country´s new rulers not formally recognized by any other nation have re-imposed their …

31-08-2022 LONDON: Queen Elizabeth will break with tradition to appoint Britain’s new prime minister at her Balmoral Castle residence in Scotland rather than at Buckingham Palace in London, due to the 96-year-old monarch’s mobility issues. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Wednesday that the queen would meet outgoing Prime Minister …

30-08-2022 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Speaking at India’s telecom leader Reliance’s annual general meeting, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani said he has been training his children on a daily basis as they begin to take the reins at the company. With a market value of $220 billion, Ambani’s business empire spans …

30-08-2022 BEIJING/ HONG KONG: Zhang Meng had a breakdown last December. The 20-year-old found herself sobbing on the stairs of her dorm, driven to despair by repeated COVID lockdowns of her university campus in Beijing. The lockdowns had meant she was mostly confined to her room and unable to meet …

30-08-2022 BAGHDAD: Powerful Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr is going on a hunger strike until “violence and the use of weapons” ends, according to an allied legislator. The move came after deadly violence erupted in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, amid protests by al-Sadr’s followers. At least 30 people have been killed and …

30-08-2022 COLOMBO: In her outstretched palms, 49-year-old Nilanthi Gunasekera holds her family’s last remaining handful of dried fish – a reminder of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in decades. She is just one of the millions of Sri Lankans battling a calamitous decline in living standards, as they find themselves …