VIENNA: Iran's nuclear chief on Monday accused the United States of seeking to undermine a landmark 2015 deal with major powers, calling on the UN watchdog to resist Washington's "unacceptable demands", reports AFP. "The American administration's overtly hostile attitude and…

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's former leader Mahathir Mohamad said Monday an inquiry into losses by the central bank in the 1990s was a "vindictive" attempt to target him and deflect attention from a scandal embroiling the current government, reports AFP. Mahathir, who is seeking to oust scandal-plagued…

KATHMANDU: Nepal on Monday completed its first local elections for nearly two decades, a key step in the country's protracted post-war transition to a federal democracy, reports AFP. Most of the country has already voted, but the local polls had been repeatedly delayed in a southern province bordering…

London: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has formally demanded the suspension of next week's referendum on Kurdish independence, reports BBC.…

POINTE-À-PITRE: Hurricane Maria strengthened Monday as it blasted towards the eastern Caribbean, a region already struggling to recover from megastorm Irma, reports AFP. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Maria had intensified to a Category Two storm as it approached the French territory…

Hyderabad: While wishes poured in for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he turned 67 on Sunday, a non-profit group from Andhra Pradesh used the occasion to highlight the plight of farmers in the region, reports Indian news portal NDTV. Rayalaseema Saguneeti Sadhana Samiti (RSSS), a group working for drought-hit…

London: Police in the US state of Georgia have shot and killed an LGBT student activist, leading to an independent investigation, reports BBC. Police…

TOKYO: A powerful typhoon ripped through the Japanese archipelago on Monday, leaving two people dead and three others missing, officials and news reports said, reports AFP. Typhoon Talim made landfall Sunday in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, packing winds of up to 162 kilometres…