26-09-2020 BEIRUT: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate resigned Saturday amid a political impasse over government formation, dealing a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country. The announcement by Mustapha Adib nearly a month after he was appointed to the job came following a meeting …

26-09-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Int’l Monitoring Desk ISLAMABAD/ NEW DELHI/ UNITED NATIONS: In a speech to the United Nations, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called India’s Hindu-nationalist government a sponsor of hatred and prejudice against Islam, while denouncing its moves to cement control of Muslim-majority Kashmir. …

25-09-2020 BEIJING: Zhong Shanshan, the founder of the popular Chinese bottled water brand Nongfu Spring, has overtaken Alibaba founder Jack Ma to become the country’s wealthiest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index. Zhong was already China’s third richest person after his company went public earlier this month with a …

25-09-2020 RUE NICOLAS-APPERT, PARIS: At least four people have been wounded in a knife attack near the former offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Friday confirmed the incident, which police are treating as a “terrorism” attack. France’s National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) has taken …

25-09-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report VATICAN CITY/ LONDON/ MELBOURNE: High-ranking Vatican official Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu has unexpectedly resigned but has revealed he was told to do so by Pope Francis. He said he was suspected of giving Church money to his brothers, and denied any wrongdoing. Cardinal …

25-09-2020 LONDON: A British police officer has been shot dead by a man who was being detained at a custody centre in south London in the early hours of Friday. Police said the incident occurred while a man was being detained at the Croydon Custody Centre at about 2:15am. The …

25-09-2020 UNITED NATIONS: China on Thursday fired a broadside at the United States at a high-level UN meeting over its criticism on the coronavirus, with its envoy stating, “Enough is enough!” Two days after President Donald Trump used his annual address to the General Assembly to attack China’s record, the …

24-09-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report BEIJING/ MELBOURNE: China’s network of detention centres in the northwest Xinjiang region is much bigger than previously thought and is being expanded, even as Beijing says it is winding down a “re-education” program for ethnic Uighurs that has been condemned internationally, new research …

24-09-2020 TEHRAN/ UNITED NATIONS: Iran’s permanent representative to the UN dismissed Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s recent accusations against Tehran as a “blame game” aimed at diverting world attention away from Riyadh’s dark record of supporting terrorism. “Saudi Arabia desperately seeks to press charges against others in order to deflect …

24-09-2020 OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a grand plan Wednesday to address social inequalities laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic and create one million jobs during recovery, while also extending emergency measures for a second wave of Covid-19. In the so-called throne speech, read by Governor General Julie …