Abbas’ government sued over alleged CIA-backed wiretappingRAMALLAH: A former Palestinian intelligence chief and the head of the West Bank bar association are suing the Palestinian self-rule government after a purported whistleblower alleged the two were targ...
Maldives opp seeks India’s help as president declares emergencyMALE/COLOMBO: An exiled former president of the Maldives urged India on Tuesday to send an envoy backed by military to release political detainees after the government of the Indian Ocean archipelago...
US House committee votes to release Democrats’ classified memoWASHINGTON: The House intelligence committee's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election spun further into charges and counter-charges among angry US lawmakers and President Donald Trump as t...
Philippines’ Duterte reneges on China deal, bans foreign research shipsMANILA: Philippinehas banned all foreign scientific research off the country's Pacific coast and told the navy to chase away unauthorised vessels, despite earlier allowing Chinese oceanographers to op...
Trouble in paradise: what’s happening in the Maldives?The political crisis in the Maldives deepened this week after embattled President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency and ordered the arrest of top judges and a former president. The upmarket...
Chinese paper says diplomatic ties with Vatican inevitableBEIJING/HONG KONG: China and the Vatican will establish formal diplomatic relations sooner or later because Pope Francis has the "wisdom" to resolve problems between the two sides, a state-run Chinese...
Vietnam jails activist for livestreaming pollution marchHANOI: A court in central Vietnam sentenced an activist to 14 years in jail Tuesday for livestreaming fishermen marching to file a lawsuit against a Taiwan-owned steel plant's spill of toxins into the...
China says Swedish publisher held under criminal lawChina said Tuesday that Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai was in custody under criminal law, brushing aside Stockholm's protests after he was seized under the eyes of Swedish diplomats last month. "Be...
Hong Kong court lets democracy activist Joshua Wong walk freeHONG KONG: Hong Kong's highest court on Tuesday unanimously decided to free three young leaders of the Chinese-ruled city's pro-democracy movement, including the public face of youth-led protests, Jos...
Lebanon’s public sector plagued by inefficiency, wasteThe corridors are dark in Lebanon’s Public Transport and Railway Administration. A few employees scroll through mobile phones in mostly empty offices lined with filing cabinets covered in dust. In a c...
Philippine high court backs Duterte martial lawThe Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday approved a one-year extension of President Rodrigo Duterte's martial law decree covering the southern third of the country, a ruling which a critic described as...
Yemen loyalists retake southwestern town from rebelsYemeni government forces have retaken a key southwestern crossroads town from Shiite rebels as they press an offensive up the Red Sea coast, military and medical sources said on Tuesday. The retaking...
We are 95 percent of the way to a coalition deal, German SPD saysBERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) are around 95 percent of the way to reaching a coalition deal, an SPD negotiator said on Tuesday, add...