The United States on Thursday placed punishing economic sanctions on 17 Saudis allegedly involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The sanctions were declared after Riyadh s public prosecutor announced that five officials face a possible death sentence in the case but exculpated the prince. "The Saudi officials we are...
The United States on Thursday placed punishing economic sanctions on 17 Saudis allegedly involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The sanctions were declared after Riyadh s public prosecutor announced that five officials face a possible death sentence in the case but exculpated the prince. "The Saudi officials we are...
RIYADH: Five Saudi officials face the death penalty over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was drugged and dismembered inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, Riyadh's public prosecutor said Thursday. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and vocal dissident, died after being drugged by the five accused and then dismembered, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said in the first...
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders will meet on November 25 to endorse the divorce deal with Britain and a political declaration on the future relationship, the chairman of EU summits Donald Tusk said on Thursday. “If nothing extraordinary happens, we will hold a European Council meeting in order to finalize and formalize the Brexit agreement. It will take place on Sunday,...
PARADISE: The toll in the deadliest wildfires in recent California history climbed to 59 on Wednesday as authorities released a list of 130 people still missing. Most of those unaccounted for are from the Butte County town of Paradise, in northern California, which was virtually erased from the map by the so-called "Camp Fire" blaze that erupted last week. Butte...
British Prime Minister Theresa May defended her anguished draft divorce deal with the European Union on Wednesday before rowdy lawmakers and a splintered cabinet that threatens to fall apart. On one of the biggest days of her political career and with the fate of her government at stake, a determined May told parliament she had secured the best deal possible...
CALIFORNIA: Thousands of firefighters battled blazes in northern and southern California on Tuesday as body recovery teams searched the remains of houses and charred cars for victims of the deadliest wildfire in the history of the US state. At least 50 deaths have been reported statewide so far from the late-season wildfires, and with hundreds of people unaccounted for, the...
Children in Israel´s south were heading to school early Wednesday as an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire took effect, putting an end to a brief yet intense flare-up with Gaza. The truce, announced Tuesday by Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip, came after nearly two days of heavy shelling from both sides that had threatened to descend into full-blown war. Gaza´s rulers Hamas...
Colombo: Sri Lanka´s Supreme Court on Tuesday overruled President Maithripala Sirisena´s dissolution of parliament and ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections next year. The Indian Ocean island has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since Sirisena sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on October 26 and replaced him with former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse. Wickremesinghe´s party led the petitions...
Thousands of Afghans have fled to Ghazni city to escape fighting in two Hazara-dominated districts, with some describing the violence on Tuesday as the worst they had seen in the 17-year conflict. The Taliban have been battling members of Afghanistan's special forces and ethnic Hazara militia in the previously safe districts of Jaghori and Malistan in the southeastern province of...
WASHINGTON: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani voiced confidence Monday on reaching a peace deal to end the Taliban insurgency — but warned Pakistan's alleged meddling risked sparking long-term hostility. "I feel that it is now not a question of if, but when," Ghani said of a peace agreement in a wide-ranging appearance by video at Johns Hopkins University, where he was...
KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday, killing at least six people near a police checkpoint, including policemen, officials said, but no militant group has yet claimed responsibility. Six people were killed in the explosion, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the interior ministry. Ten policemen and civilians, including women, were injured...
GAZA CITY: An exchange of fire erupted during an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing six Palestinians and an Israeli soldier, officials said, while potentially dashing hopes that a recent agreement would restore calm. As tensions rose following the clash, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s office said he would cut short his trip to Paris, where...
HODEIDA: At least 149 people including civilians have been killed in 24 hours of clashes between government loyalists and rebels in Yemen´s flashpoint city of Hodeida, medics and military sources said Monday. A source in Yemen´s pro-government military coalition, which is backed by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, said the Houthi rebels had pushed back a large-scale offensive aimed...
At least 61 combatants have been killed in clashes in Yemen's flashpoint Hodeida, medics and a military source said Sunday, and dozens of wounded taken to hospitals outside the city. Medics in the Red Sea city reported 43 Houthi rebels and nine loyalists killed in clashes over the past 24 hours. Another nine loyalist fighters were reported killed by medics...
PARADISE: The death toll from the most destructive fire to hit California rose to 23 on Saturday as rescue workers recovered more bodies of people killed by the devastating blaze. Firefighters are battling raging fires at both ends of the state, but there is little hope of containing the flames anytime soon. "Today, 14 additional bodies were located, which brings...
World leaders gathered under driving rain in Paris on Sunday to lead global commemorations marking 100 years since the end of World War I, at a time of growing nationalism and diplomatic tensions. Around 70 leaders including United States (US) and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin marked the centenary of the 1918 Armistice in the French capital at...