LONDON: British travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed on Monday, leaving hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers stranded and sparking the UK´s biggest repatriation since World War II. The 178-year-old debt-plagued group, which had struggled against fierce online competition for some time and blamed Brexit uncertainty for a recent drop in bookings, declared bankruptcy after failing to secure £200 million ($250 million, …

UNITED NATIONS: After global street protests demanding action on climate change, Greta Thunberg and 15 other young activists on Monday filed a complaint at the UN against five countries for not doing enough to ward off global warming. The complaint accused Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey of failing to uphold their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of …

MOROCCO: High up in Morocco’s Atlas mountains, three dozen young Berber couples gathered for a traditional group wedding to the sound of drums and ululating. Near the lakeside village of Imilchil, hundreds flocked to attend the singing and dancing from last Thursday to Sunday under a bright blue sky. The wedding parties hailed from different villages, the brides wearing long …

UNITED NATIONS: The leaders of France, Germany and Britain on Monday agreed that Iran carried out this month´s attack on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure and called on Tehran to choose dialogue over further “provocation.” French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed the conclusion of the United States on the blasts at the …

BRIGHTON: Britain´s opposition Labour Party descended into chaos on Monday as it narrowly rejected a grassroots attempt to force leader Jeremy Corbyn to campaign to remain in the European Union and reverse the outcome of the 2016 Brexit vote. The 119-year-old party´s annual congress turned into a showdown between its irreconcilably splintered pro- and anti-Brexit wings in the runup to …

VANCOUVER: Top Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou and her lawyers went to court on Monday to try to have her extradition case thrown out, arguing that her rights were violated. The 47-year-old Huawei chief financial officer was detained during a stopover at the Vancouver airport last December on a US warrant. The United States wants to put Meng on trial …

UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump will try selling his tough Iran policy in a speech to the UN on Tuesday, but the bid for international leadership will be overshadowed by growing political scandal at home. “We´ll be talking about Iran,” Trump told reporters about his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York. Saying his administration had already …

Prince Harry on Monday spoke out against gender-based violence in South Africa as his wife Meghan hailed girls who had chosen to “stand up for what is right”. The British royal couple visited Cape Town’s tough Nyanga township as part of a 10-day tour of southern Africa — their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was …

With the spectre of a no-deal Brexit looming on October 31, EU members are taking measures to cushion their economies, safeguard trade with Britain and protect citizens’ rights. The prospect of trade barriers being re-erected on November 1 between Britain and its EU neighbours has led to fears of nightmarish tailbacks at borders, with potentially huge losses for exporters. An …

Baby Archie may just be four months old but it seems Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor has already reared some of his parent’s philanthropic and altruistic characteristics. Earlier this month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a secret charitable donation of £4,350 for building a swimming pool in Guinjata Bay, Mozambique in their son’s name. Adam Knight, a swim coach …