World

Colombo, Oct 28: Sri Lankan Parliament's Speaker Karu Jayasuriya Sunday recognised Ranil Wickremesinghe as the country's prime minister in a major relief to the embattled UNP leader, who was sacked as the premier by President Maithripala Sirisena. In a letter to Sirisena, Jayasuriya questioned Sirisena's decision to suspend the House till November 16, saying it will have "serious and undesirable"

Colombo, Oct 27: Mahinda Rajapaksa staged a dramatic political comeback on Friday, becoming Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, triggering angry reactions from the finance minister who termed the former strongman's return as an "anti-democratic coup". Visuals of the former president Rajapaksa taking oath as the premier were

Islamabad, Oct 26: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit China next week, authorities said Thursday, as the former cricketer mounts a desperate search for funds to prop up the nation’s dire finances. The confirmation of Khan’s first visit to China as premier comes days after Pakistan secured $6 billion dollars in funding from Saudi Arabia to help stave off a widening balance of payment

United Nations, Oct 26: Sexual violence and abductions continue to be used as weapons of war in armed conflict by non-state actors and terrorist organisations which disproportionately affect women, India has said as it asked the UN Security Council to sanction individuals and entities involved in gender-based violence. The remarks by Paulomi Tripathi, First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission

Islamabad, Oct 26: Promising that all corrupt leaders will go to jail, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that no politicians and officials who have put Pakistan into the debt trap through their corrupt practices will get protection from any legislation like the defunct National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The controversial NRO was promulgated in October 2007 by the government of then

Addis Ababa, Oct 26: Ethiopia on Thursday appointed a woman to the largely ceremonial position of president for the first time, further increasing female representation in the government of Africa's second most populous nation. In a unanimous vote, Ethiopian lawmakers picked career diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde, 68, to replace Mulatu Teshome who resigned in unclear circumstances. Ethiopia's reformist

Oct 26: Google Inc Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said on Thursday the company had fired 48 employees for sexual harassment over the past two years. Pichai sent an email to Google employees in response to a New York Times story that was published earlier in the day. The report said the search engine giant protected three senior executives from allegations of sexual misconduct by offering them

Islamabad, Oct 24: Saudi Arabia has agreed to give Pakistan $3 billion in foreign currency support for a year and a further loan worth up to $3 billion in deferred payments for oil imports to help stave off a current account crisis, Pakistan's government said on Tuesday. The $6 billion total exceeds forecasts by analysts and will likely reduce the size of any bailout Pakistan receives from the

Washington, Oct 24: The United States has said it was revoking visas of Saudi officials involved in the "brutal murder" of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in its first major action against the longtime ally as global outrage escalated. The visa curbs came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudis' Istanbul consulate had been meticulously planned, in a speech

Ankara, Oct 23: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan dropped a geopolitical bombshell on Tuesday during a speech in Parliament, saying there were strong signs Jamal Khashoggi's "savage" killing was planned and attempts to blame it on intelligence operatives "will not satisfy us". Erdogan did not directly mention Saudi Arabia's leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who some U.S. lawmakers suspect