Asia

SYDNEY/CANBERRA: A Chinese-born Australian writer has been arrested in China on suspicion of espionage, the Australian government said on Tuesday, amid growing tension between Canberra and its largest trading partner. Yang Hengjun, a former Chinese diplomat turned online journalist and blogger, was detained in the southern city of Guangzhou in ...

KABUL: Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Mohammad Faisal said all the Pakistani staff remained safe after an improvised explosive device (IED) went off outside holding area of Pakistan Consulate General in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. On his twitter account, Dr Faisal posted, “One policeman and two applicants are reportedly ...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hopes that under the current situation in Kashmir, negotiations by UN human rights officials for access to the area “can move forward”, according to his Associate Spokesperson Eri Kaneko. “We are aware that our human rights contacts are in touch at various levels with the Indian ...

SRINAGAR: In Kashmir, an officer of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has committed suicide in Islamabad district. An Assistant Commandant of the CRPF’s 40th Battalion, M Arvind (33), ended his life by shooting himself with his service rifle at his residence in Sadar area of the district. He hailed ...

HONG KONG riot cops fired tear gas and baton-charged protesters who retaliated with a barrage of stones, bottles and bamboo poles on Saturday, as a standoff in a working-class neighbourhood descended into violence, breaking an uneasy peace that had lasted several days. Earlier thousands of demonstrators, many wearing hard hats ...

SRINAGAR: The administration of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday sent back a delegation of India’s top opposition leaders, including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, shortly after they landed in Srinagar, Hindustan Times reported. The opposition leaders had intended to visit Kashmir to assess the situation in the wake of the BJP government’s decision ...

WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump said that India, Iran, Russia and Turkey would have to fight against terrorists in Afghanistan at some point of time. “India is right there, they are not fighting it, we are fighting it,” said Mr. Trump. “Pakistan is right next door. They are fighting ...

NEW DELHI: An Indian court ordered a former finance minister into police custody for questioning for four days, in a case stemming from government approval of foreign investment in a local media company, a judge said. The rare action against P. Chidambaram, a top leader of the main opposition Congress ...

HONG KONG: Hundreds of masked protesters used bins and ticket machines as barricades against riot police late Wednesday at a flashpoint Hong Kong metro station, where they earlier marked one month since a mob attack by suspected triad gang members. That assault on July 21 had pushed the city deeper ...

WASHINGTON: The United States has approved an $8 billion military sale of 66 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release. “The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to TECRO [Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office] for ...