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WASHINGTON: Global sea levels could rise by two metres (6.5 feet) and displace tens of millions of people by the end of the century, according to new projections that double the UN’s benchmark estimates.The vast ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain enough frozen water to lift the world’s oceans dozens of metres. The expansion of water as oceans warm also contributes to sea level rise.But predicting the rates at which they will melt as the planet heats is notoriously tricky. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said its 2013 Fifth Assessment Report that under current emissions trajectories — a “business-as-usual” scenario known as RCP8.5 — would likely rise by up to one metre by 2100.That prediction has since been viewed as conservative, as the levels of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise year on year, and satellites showing accelerated rates of melt-off from massive ice sheets atop Antarctica and Greenland.A group of the w...

Riyadh: Saudi-owned media accused Yemeni rebels Tuesday of targeting Islam’s holiest city Makkah after Riyadh and its allies said they had intercepted two missiles over the kingdom. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said two missiles were shot down between Jeddah and Taiz districts of Makkah province on Monday but did not elaborate on the suspected target or who fired them.However, both satellite news network Al-Arabiya and pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat said the missiles were fired by Yemen’s Huthi Shiites rebels at Makkah. They said it was the third such launch by the Huthis targeting the holy city since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in the war in Yemen in March 2015.The Huthis denied any such missile fire, adding that they would have claimed responsibility if they had been behind a launch. "We wouldn’t be embarrassed to claim any operation to defend our people and land," a rebel spokesman said in a tweet. from The News International - World http://bit....

DHAKA: Bangladesh authorities have blocked access to a popular news portal in what critics on Tuesday condemned as the latest blow to freedom of expression in the South Asian nation.Poriborton.com, one of the country’s top five online news outlets, was shut without notice on Sunday, managing editor Abu Sufian told AFP.He did not give a reason. Officials for government agencies that regulate the internet industry denied any knowledge of the case or refused to comment. But a Bangladesh media industry source said a government security agency ordered the closure after the website raised questions about the financing behind a newspaper advert against Muslim militancy.Muslim groups had condemned the advert, saying it described some signs of Islamic faith as marks of radicalisation. In recent months the authorities have shut 54 news portals and websites, including that of the main opposition party, citing security reasons. from The News International - World http://bit.ly/30yepYK

COLOMBO: One month after the Sri Lanka suicide attacks that killed more than 250 people, investigators have told AFP the bombers used “Mother of Satan” explosives favoured by the Islamic State group that are a new sign of foreign involvement. Detectives said the back-pack bombs used in the April 21 attacks on three churches and three hotels were manufactured by local jihadists with Islamic State expertise.They named the explosive as triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an unstable but easily made mixture favoured by Islamic State militants who call it “Mother of Satan”. It was also used in the 2015 attacks in Paris, by a suicide bomber who hit the Manchester Arena in England in 2017 and attacks on churches in Indonesia one year ago. Islamic State has claimed the Sri Lankan bombers operated as part of its franchise.But Sri Lankan and international investigators are anxious to know just how much outside help went into the attacks that left 258 dead and 500 injured. “The group had easy access...

LONDON: British police on Tuesday charged a man who threw a milkshake at Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage with common assault and criminal damage. The incident in Newcastle in northern England on Monday sparked condemnation from across the political spectrum, following a series of similar ambushes on populist and far-right candidates in the European elections. Police said the criminal damage charge against Paul Crowther, 32, related to a microphone that Farage was wearing while he was campaigning in the city. Common assault, a crime entailing a threat of physical violence, carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison, but first-time offenders in such cases usually only pay a fine. Crowther, who was detained and handcuffed at the scene, will appear in court next month. He told reporters that his action was "a right of protest against people like him" from The News International - World http://bit.ly/30D8bae

REIMS, France: Doctors on Tuesday resumed the life support for a Frenchman who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade, following a court order to restore it hours after the switching off process began, lawyers said. "We have the pleasure to inform you that... the hydration and feeding of Vincent Lambert has been resumed," said Jean Paillot, a lawyer for the parents who vehemently oppose ending his life, after a ruling late Monday by the Paris appeals court. "It is not a suspension but a new start," added the parents’ other lawyer Jerome Triomphe who said the aim now was to have Lambert transferred to a different hospital. The Paris court ordered authorities "to take all measures" to keep alive Lambert, a 42-year-old quadraplegic with severe brain damage, pending a review by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. from The News International - World http://bit.ly/2VByb1L

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said on Monday the "genocidal taunts" of US President Donald Trump will not "end Iran", amid a spike in tensions between the two countries."Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’," Zarif wrote on Twitter."Never threaten an Iranian. Try respect -- it works!" he added. The comments by Iran’s top diplomat follow an ominous warning by Trump, who on Sunday suggested the Islamic republic would be destroyed if it attacked US interests."If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again," Trump tweeted. Relations between Washington and Tehran plummeted a year ago when Trump pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and imposed tough sanctions.Tensions have risen further this month with Washington announcing further economic measures against Tehran, ...

Exit polls from India’s marathon election showed an "overwhelming" vote in favour of a new term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party said on Monday as shares and the Indian currency surged on expectations of a new term.While opposition parties refused to give in and the country faces a nerve-jangling three day wait until the official count begins, most media polls said Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies would secure enough seats to form a new government after the world’s biggest election.The seven rounds of voting over six weeks ended on Sunday with about 65 percent of the 900 eligible voters taking part, the election commission said. Modi, who fought an acrimonious campaign framed around his tough national security stance, and other top BJP leaders made no immediate claim of victory.The nationalist leader spent the weekend at a retreat in the Himalayas. He posted a Twitter picture of himself in a Hindu saffron robe looking out over the mountains. Party...

STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors on Monday issued a formal request to hold WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently imprisoned in Britain, on suspicion of rape -- a first step towards seeking his extradition to Sweden.Swedish deputy director of public prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson said in a statement she had filed a request with the Uppsala district court to have Assange detained in his absence over an alleged rape.Detaining someone in their absence is a standard part of Swedish legal procedure if a suspect is outside the country or cannot be located. The request follows last week’s reopening of a 2010 rape investigation, and Persson added that once the court had granted the request, she would then ask British authorities to transfer Assange to Sweden."If the court decides to detain him, I will issue a European Arrest Warrant concerning surrender to Sweden," Persson said. The Australian whistleblower, who holed himself up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London for seven years t...

BEIJING: China on Monday denounced a US warship sail-by near disputed islands in the South China Sea as a violation of its sovereignty, amid mounting tensions over trade between the two countries.The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) organised air and naval forces to warn the USS Preble to leave, said a PLA spokesman, after it entered waters near China-claimed Scarborough Shoal on Monday morning."The relevant actions from the US side endanger the safety of both Chinese and American ships and personnel, and undermine China’s sovereignty and safety," said Li Huamin, spokesman of the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command."We express our resolute opposition," he added. The move comes as both countries adopt toughening stances on a host of economic and diplomatic issues, namely trade and hi-tech rivalry.Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, with China announcing it would raise tariffs on $60 billion in US merchandise from Jun...

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities on Monday ordered the arrest of 249 past and present foreign ministry personnel suspected of ties to the group blamed for a failed 2016 coup, the prosecutor’s office said.At least 78 have already been detained, the office in the capital Ankara said. The latest crackdown is part of a probe in 42 cities into alleged irregularities in the foreign ministry entrance exam in favour of members of a movement led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.The suspects joined the foreign ministry between 2010 and 2013, according to the prosecutor’s office. Fourteen are currently serving in the ministry, while the rest had already been removed from their posts, a judicial source told AFP.Ankara blames Gulen and his followers for orchestrating a failed coup in 2016 aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The movement denies the allegations and insists it is a peaceful group promoting education and moderate Islam. from The News International - World http:...

KAFRANBEL, Syria: Air strikes by Syrian regime ally Russia have killed 10 civilians including five children in a northwestern jihadist bastion, a monitor said on Monday, hours after Moscow announced a ceasefire there.The Russian army said the air raids overnight on the town of Kafranbel, in Idlib province, came after it pinpointed the area as the launchpad for rocket fire on its key Syria airbase of Hmeimim.Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, controls a large part of Idlib province as well as parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces. The jihadist stronghold is supposed to be protected from a government offensive by a September buffer zone deal, but regime and Russian bombardment has increased there since late April.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian air strikes overnight killed five children, four women, and one man in Kafranbel. The raids hit near a hospital in the town, knocking it out of service, the Britain-based monitor said.A...

NICOSIA: EU negotiator Michel Barnier warned on Monday that whatever the shifting political situation in Britain its options are limited and unchanged -- deal, no deal or no Brexit."Today, the fundamental choices in front of the United Kingdom remain the same: deal, no deal, no Brexit," Barnier told reporters in Nicosia after updating Cypriot authorities on the latest developments."Whatever happens and whatever the political situation in the UK, the issues and solutions remain the same," he added. Barnier said the EU has "always been working for a deal" and the withdrawal agreement is the "only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal".He noted discussion in Britain is not about the withdrawal agreement itself, but the future relationship. "Let me be clear: if the United Kingdom still wants to leave, ratifying the withdrawal agreement is the only way to secure a transition period," said Barnier.He said the period of transition would give Bri...

SYDNEY: The failure of opinion polls to tip a conservative win in Australia’s elections has raised questions about their credibility just years after similar errors in forecasting Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory in the US.Australia’s ruling Liberal-National coalition claimed a shock victory in Saturday’s election, after two years of trailing the opposition Labor Party in every major national poll. The polls showed a slight tightening between the two main parties with Labor ahead roughly 51-49 just before the election.The tentative result, pending final results from the Australian Electoral Commission, shows the coalition instead ahead 51-49 on Monday. "Why did we have such an amazing sequence of polls in a row that all got the same (results)?" Australian polling analyst Kevin Bonham told AFP of the years of polling that pointed to a Labor victory.Most media routinely rely on polls -- surveys of hundreds, sometimes thousands of voters by phone or online -- to flag political ...

BRASALIA: Brazil’s imprisoned ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, still loved by large parts of the population, plans to remarry if he is released from prison, a former minister said.Lula, 73, a widower for the past two years, has been sentenced to more than two decades behind bars in two separate corruption cases. He has already spent a year in jail but could be eligible for "semi-open" incarceration later this year after an appeals court reduced one of his sentences."He is in love and the first thing he wants to do after getting out of prison will be to marry," Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, who held cabinet posts in finance and science, wrote on Facebook -- reportedly to the dismay of Lula’s aides.Last week, Bresser-Pereira visited Lula in his prison in Curitiba, southern Brazil. "He is in very good shape, physically and psychologically," the ex-minister said. According to the website of the weekly Epoca, the prospective bride-to-be is Rosangela da Si...

BEIJING: The US ambassador to China is making the first trip to Tibet by an American envoy in four years after obtaining rare access to the restricted region, his embassy said on Monday.The visit by Ambassador Terry Branstad comes two months after the US State Department said Beijing had "systematically" impeded access to Tibetan areas for US diplomats, journalists and tourists. Branstad was scheduled to visit Qinghai province and the neighbouring Tibet Autonomous Region from Sunday until this Saturday, an embassy spokesperson said in an email to AFP."This visit is a chance for the Ambassador to engage with local leaders to raise longstanding concerns about restrictions on religious freedom and the preservation of Tibetan culture and language," the spokesperson said. "The Ambassador welcomes this opportunity to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region, and encourages authorities to provide access to the region to all American citizens."Branstad will have official...

YEREVAN: Armenian premier Nikol Pashinyan on Monday announced sweeping judiciary reforms as protesters blockaded court buildings in Yerevan, heeding his call for a demonstration against judges he accuses of political bias."Courts are remnants of the former corrupt authorities. People have no trust in the judiciary and therefore it lacks legitimacy," Pashinyan told a televised cabinet meeting. "The time has come for a surgical intervention" with all judges subjected to a thorough vetting during a "transitional" period, he said.He said judges who "believe they cannot be just" and those whose rulings were found unfair by the European Court of Human Rights should resign. "If necessary, we will adopt constitutional amendments. All this will be done in conformity with international law," he said, asking for support from Western partners.Pashinyan’s appeal for mass demonstrations followed a court ruling to release from pre-trial detention form...

TRIPOLI: Despite a UN embargo, weapons are still flowing into Libya where an assault on the capital by strongman Khalifa Haftar threatens to escalate into a proxy war between regional powers.Haftar, whose self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) is allied with an administration in eastern Libya, is supported especially by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On the other side, Turkey and Qatar back the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) which is recognised by the international community.Haftar on April 4 launched an attack on the capital that has ground to a halt on the southern outskirts of Tripoli in the face of GNA forces backed by militias from western Libya. Both sides have called in reinforcements as fresh weaponry arrives despite a UN arms embargo officially still in place since a 2011 revolt that toppled Libya’s longtime leader Moamer Qadhafi.The GNA boasted on Saturday of new "armour, ammunition and... weapons" for its fighters. It did not specify t...

KIEV: Ukraine’s new President Volodymyr Zelensky used his inaugural speech on Monday to call snap parliamentary polls after shooting to power in a country wracked by a separatist conflict and severe economic problems.The 41-year-old comedian was sworn in as Ukraine’s youngest post-Soviet president a month after scoring a landslide victory over Petro Poroshenko with a campaign capitalising on widespread public discontent with the political establishment.Zelensky -- whose only previous political experience is appearing as president in a popular TV show -- announced his first priority was ending the five-year conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the industrial east that has claimed over 13,000 lives."Our first task is a ceasefire in the Donbass," Zelensky said during the ceremony in parliament, referring to the eastern separatist-controlled region, prompting a round of applause. "We didn’t start this war but it is up to us to end it," he said."We are ready f...

LONDON: The lowly milkshake has turned into an unlikely weapon of choice for Britons determined to make a splashy statement against the rise of the Brexit-backing populist right.Former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage became the latest political figure on Monday to be doused with the sticky concoction while campaigning for his new Brexit Party in this week’s European Parliament election.Images shared on social media showed a grim-faced Farage -- his black suit covered from shoulder to toe -- being led away by a bodyguard during a campaign stop in the northern city of Newcastle. The suspected culprit told the Press Association it was a £5.25 ($6.70, six euro) banana and salted caramel shake he bought at the local Five Guys hamburger chain store."I didn’t know he was in town. I thought this is my only chance," the 32-year-old was quoted as saying before being detained by the police. First-time offenders in such cases usually pay a small fine. In a tweet, Farage...