UNITED NATIONS: The US pushed back Thursday against a Russian draft resolution to the UN General Assembly that proposed to preserve the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) that the US plans to pull out of, according to diplomatic sources, reports AFP. “The international community has…

AMMAN: At least 20 people, most of them school pupils, have been killed in flash floods in Jordan, the emergency services said yesterday in an updated toll, reports AFP. A further 35 people were injured following heavy rains on Thursday, including members of the security forces involved in rescue operations,…

TOKYO: Japan’s government on Friday rejected calls from a UN rights expert to halt the return of women and children to areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster over radiation fears, reports AFP. UN special rapporteur Baskut Tuncak on Thursday warned that people felt they were “being…

RIYADH: Gabonese President Ali Bongo has been hospitalised in Riyadh, Saudi state media said, without giving more details, reports AFP. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Bongo in Riyadh’s King Faisal hospital and “inquired after the health of the president”, the official…

NICOSIA: Rival Cypriot leaders agreed yesterday to open the first new crossing points in eight years across the island’s divide in a move to improve the climate of the deadlocked talks process, the UN said, reports AFP. It was the first formal meeting between the two leaders since a UN-backed…

PARIS: The French government yesterday ordered a three-month ban of a widely used pesticide after dozens of people, many of them farm workers, fell ill in western France in recent weeks, reports AFP. The move came after metam sodium was suspected when victims reported burning eyes and respiratory difficulties…