International

13-01-2024 WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her longtime partner Clarke Gayford finally tied the knot in a private ceremony on Saturday after cancelling their wedding plans due to the strict COVID-19 controls imposed by the government. Ardern, 43, and Gayford, 47, had scheduled their wedding for …

13-01-2024 NEW YORK: Two skiers were killed and at least two were left injured in two different snow-related accidents that hit regions across the West and Northwest last week. A skier, Corey J Zalewski’s body was recovered during a recovery mission on Friday after an avalanche hit a backcountry area …

12-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: Authorities in India’s most populous state halted some payments this week to teachers of subjects such as mathematics and science in Muslim religious schools, known as madrasas, after the end of a federal government scheme. The funding halt, affecting more than 21,000 teachers …

12-01-2024 TEHRAN/ DUBAI: Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey on Thursday in what appeared to be a retaliation for the seizure last year of the same vessel by Tehran’s arch foe the United States, Iranian media reported. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker St Nikolas, which last year …

12-01-2024 QUITO: Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa says his country is “at war” after drug gangs took more than 130 prison guards and other staff hostage and briefly captured a TV station during a live broadcast. “We are at war, and we cannot cede in the face of these terrorist groups,” …

12-01-2024 LONDON: Following the broadcast of the TV docudrama “Mr Bates vs the Post Office,” the British government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, declared its intention to reverse the convictions of hundreds of postal workers wrongly accused due to a flawed computer system. The announcement aims to rectify what …

12-01-2024 THE HAGUE: South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking to have the court declare Israel’s military assault on Gaza a genocide will be heard starting on Thursday in The Hague. Israel has called the allegations “baseless” and accused South Africa of “cooperating with a terrorist …

12-01-2024 MOGADISHU: A helicopter belonging to the United Nations mission in Somalia has been captured by al-Shabab after it landed in territory held by the armed group. Several passengers were reportedly seized in Galmudug state on Wednesday by the al-Qaeda-linked group which has wreaked violence in the Horn of Africa …

12-01-2024 UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding Yemen’s Houthis end attacks on ships in the Red Sea and free the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader that was seized last year. Eleven members of the council voted on Wednesday for the measure calling on the Iran-aligned Houthis to …

11-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MADINAH: In a rare diplomacy, a non-Muslim Indian delegation has been given access to the holy city of Madina Munawara in Saudi Arabia. The non-Muslim Indian delegation, led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani, reached Saudi Arabia …