China issues unusual warning on ‘Covid-hit economy’
BEIJING: China’s premier called for more to be done to stabilise the world’s second-largest economy, issuing an unusually stark warning as the country’s zero-Covid strategy bites into growth. China is the last major economy welded to a policy of mass testing and hard lockdowns to eliminate virus clusters, but the strict curbs have battered businesses. […]
Biden urges gun control after shooter kills 19 children at Texas school
WASHINGTON: “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” US President Joe Biden asked his nation on Wednesday, hours after a teenage gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school in Texas. The powerful gun lobby in America has so far prevented all administrations […]
UK MPs blast ‘systemic failures’ during Afghan withdrawal
LONDON: The UK’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year showed “systemic failures of leadership, planning and preparation”, according to a scathing inquiry by MPs published on Tuesday. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee probe revealed a “fundamental lack of planning, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency” before and during the Taliban […]
Drug shortage worries doctors in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO: A shortage of medicine caused by an economic crisis in Sri Lanka could soon cause deaths, doctors said, as hospitals are forced to postpone life-saving procedures for their patients because they do not have the necessary drugs. Sri Lanka imports more than 80pc of its medical supplies but with foreign currency reserves running out […]
Colonel shot dead in Tehran; Guards blame US for attack
TEHRAN: An Iranian Revolutionary Guards colonel was shot dead outside his Tehran home on Sunday, the Guards said, blaming his “assassination” on assailants linked to the United States and its allies. The killing of Colonel Sayyad Khodai is the most high profile murder announced by Iran since the 2020 killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen […]
Fear of food shortage haunts Lankan PM
COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka’s prime minister has warned of a food shortage as the island nation battles a devastating economic crisis and vowed the government will buy enough fertiliser for the next planting season to boost harvests. A decision in April last year by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to ban all chemical fertilisers drastically cut crop […]
Afghan TV presenters asked to cover faces on air
KABUL: Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have asked television broadcasters to ensure that female presenters on local stations cover their faces when on air, an official said on Thursday. The move comes days after authorities ordered women to cover their faces in public, a return to a policy of the Taliban’s past hardline rule and an […]
US Embassy in Kyiv resumes operations
US has officially resumed its operations at the US Embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday after shutting down it for three months, just days before Russia started its military operation in Ukraine, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. Price said that when they suspended the operation, they made it clear that even though […]
South Asia heat not caused by climate change alone: WMO chief
ISLAMABAD: Although the current heatwave sweeping across India and Pakistan was consistent with what experts have come to expect in a changing climate, the head of the global weather body has said that it was premature to attribute the extreme heat in South Asia solely to the phenomenon of climate change. “But heatwaves are more […]
Sri Lankan opposition, protesters push anti-govt campaign despite new PM
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main opposition party joined anti-government protesters on Friday in rejecting the appointment of a new prime minister and insisted the president resign to take responsibility for the country’s disastrous economic crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed five-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to his sixth term late on Thursday, but opposition comments signalled it […]
