International

The mother of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Heeraben, died in the early hours of Friday at the age of 99. According to Hindustan Times, Modi and his brothers performed the last rites of their mother in Gandhinagar, the capital of the state of Gujarat. Modi and his elder brother Somabhai Modi were seen lighting the pyre of their mother at the …

BRUSSELS: Hairdressers across Belgium are sweeping up and bagging hair clipped from their customers, and then handing it over to an NGO that recycles it to protect the environment. The Hair Recycle project feeds locks and tresses into a machine that turns them into matted squares that can be used to absorb oil and other hydrocarbons polluting the environment, or …

WASHINGTON: The US government’s two-year-old policy of invoking Covid-19 precautions to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants at the Mexican border will remain in place for now, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The decision to uphold the controversial rule known as Title 42 delayed a looming political crisis for President Joe Biden, as thousands waited at the southern …

DUBAI: With foreign workers making up the vast bulk of private sector jobs in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf’s second-largest economy wants to boost opportunities for its own citizens. The UAE — like other oil-rich Arab Gulf states — has often used the public sector as an employment vehicle for its nationals. But times are changing, said 34-year-old Emirati …

TUNIS: Tunisian prosecutors asked the top judicial body to strip 13 judges of immunity so they can be tried on terror charges, their lawyer said on Wednesday, describing the case as “purely political”. The move comes nearly seven months after President Kais Saied sacked 57 judges, accusing them of corruption and blocking inquiries into two left-wing political figures in 2013, …

PARIS: More than 100 days of protests in Iran have shattered taboos and shaken the ideological pillars of the Islamic republic in a push for change that has defied a fierce crackdown. The demonstrations, which erupted in mid-September following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, are a reflection of pent-up public anger over economic shortcomings and social restrictions, …

NEW DELHI: Four heavily-armed unidentified men, travelling in a truck to India-held Kashmir after allegedly crossing into India, were killed in an ongoing operation by security forces in Jammu’s Sidhra area early on Wednesday, a police officer said, terming it a “major success” ahead of Republic Day, reports said. “Four terrorists have been killed in the encounter in Sidhra area …

After a stint in opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu will return to power in Israel on Thursday, leading what analysts describe as the most right-wing government in the country’s history. Senior security and law enforcement officials have already voiced concern over its direction, as have Palestinians. “It becomes for Netanyahu’s partners a dream government,” Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute …

Russia fired more than 100 missiles into Ukraine on Thursday morning, targetting the capital Kyiv where three people were wounded, the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and other cities in a large-scale aerial bombardment, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine’s Air Force said the attacks had involved sea- and air-based cruise missiles fired “from different directions” and followed an overnight assault by ‘kamikaze’ …

G7 foreign ministers on Thursday called on the Taliban to “urgently reverse” a ban on women working in Afghanistan’s aid sector. The ban is the latest blow against women’s rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban reclaimed power last year. The Taliban also barred women from attending universities earlier this month, prompting global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities. The G7 ministers along with …