Author: AFP

Protesters keep up pressure

HONG KONG: Hong Kong pro-democracy activists kept up the pressure on authorities with a colourful “family rally” and a sit-in at the city’s airport yesterday, as protests enter a third month. There was little sign of a softening in the position of the financial hub’s chief executive, who ruled out

Armed man in body armour arrested at Missouri Walmart

WASHINGTON: A 20-year-old man armed with an assault rifle has been arrested at a Walmart store in the mid western US state of Missouri and charged with making a “terrorist threat”, police said. Dmitriy Andreychenko, who was wearing body armour and fatigues, was detained by an armed off-duty firefighter who

N. Korea conducts new missile tests

SEOUL: North Korea conducted the latest in a series of missile launches yesterday to protest US-South Korean war games, just hours after US President Donald Trump expressed his own frustration with the exercises. Defence officials in Seoul said what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles were fired at daybreak

Kashmir readies for Muslim festival

SRINAGAR (India): Big queues formed in Kashmir’s main city yesterday outside cash machines and food stores as Indian authorities eased a crippling curfew to let the Himalayan region prepare for a major Muslim festival, residents said. But huge numbers of troops remained on the streets a day after security forces

Blast rocks Copenhagen police station, no injuries

STOCKHOLM: An explosion rocked a Copenhagen police station in the early hours yesterday, causing damage but no injuries just days after a similar blast at the national tax agency. The glass entrance doors were shattered and debris was scattered on the ground outside, images showed. The cause of the explosion

Hundreds attend protest concert

BEIRUT: Hundreds of Lebanese gathered Friday in Beirut for a protest concert in solidarity with a home-grown band being cancelled from a top music festival over alleged blasphemy. Mashrou’ Leila, whose lead singer is gay and whose Arabic lyrics tackle a range of taboo topics, were supposed to play in

Power outage creates travel mayhem in Britain

LONDON: Nearly one million people were affected by a major power outage for several hours across areas of England and Wales on Friday, including parts of London, causing rush-hour transportation chaos. Problems with two generators caused the massive electricity cut, the National Grid said. “This evening we had an unexpected

Contract signed to build monorail

MONTREAL: Canadian manufacturing group Bombardier has announced it had signed a multi-billion dollar agreement to build two automated monorail lines in Egypt’s notoriously congested capital Cairo. The $4.5 billion agreement, which was signed with Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels, is subject to “final signatures of supplementary documents,” Bombadier and its

Mattel shares plunge after it abruptly cancels debt offering

NEW YORK: Barbie-maker Mattel saw its share price sink Friday after the company canceled a debt offering due to a “whistleblower” complaint. The toymaker revealed few details about the situation in a terse securities filing late Thursday, saying only that the debt issue was “terminated” to give the company opportunity

Protesters at airport to share the truth

HONG KONG: Thousands of prodemocracy activists chanted for reform yesterday as they staged a sit-in at Hong Kong airport, hoping to win international support for their movement after two months of protests. “No rioters, only tyranny,” the demonstrators chanted as they began a three-day action — the latest in a