International

DUBAI: When record downpours sent water flooding into his Dubai home, Riaz Haq expected the levels to drop once it stopped raining. But instead of falling, the water kept rising higher. “We went to bed, the water was half-a-metre,” the British lawyer said, recalling Tuesday’s tempest that flooded homes, malls, offices and roads. “We woke up and it was one …

LOS ANGELES: Taylor Swift surprised fans with her new record The Tortured Poets Department on Friday, revealing it was a double album featuring songs about heartbreak and a period described as “the saddest story” of the singer’s life. Swift’s 11th studio album, featuring 16 tracks, was released at midnight and two hours later she revealed a second instalment with 15 …

BEIJING: Apple said on Friday it had removed Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China after being ordered to do so by the Chinese government, which cited national security concerns. Telegram and Signal — two other foreign messaging apps — were also removed from the store on Friday, according to app tracking firms Qimai and AppMagic. …

BEIJING: China announced the creation of a new military cyber corps on Friday, saying it would bolster Beijing’s capacity to “fight and win” wars. The Information Support Force will act as a “key support for coordinated development and application of network information systems”, defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said. China has ploughed billions of dollars into modernising its armed forces …

NEW DELHI: Elections to the 18th Lok Sabha kicked off on Friday across 21 Indian states covering 102 seats of the 545-member house, and although voters queued up in searing heat across much of the country to record an overall voting of over 60 per cent, absent from the fray was any sign of a Modi wave. The first of …

The United States has imposed sanctions on four entities for their alleged involvement in supplying “missile-applicable items” to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, stating that the move is intended to bring about a “change in behavior.” In response, the Foreign Office (FO) said it was unaware of latest listings but added that such actions had been taken in the past as …

One person was killed and eight wounded in an overnight explosion at an Iraqi military base housing a coalition of pro-Iranian armed groups, officials said Saturday. The explosion hit the Kalsu military base in Babylon province south of Baghdad, where Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, or Hashed al-Shaabi, is stationed. It comes days after Iran launched an unprecedented assault on Israel which reportedly responded with …

Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem won the prestigious 2024 World Press Photo (WPP) of the Year award on Thursday for his image of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her five-year-old niece in the Gaza Strip. The picture was taken on October 17 at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where families were searching for relatives killed during the …

Iran could review its “nuclear doctrine” following Israeli threats, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commander said on Thursday, raising concerns about Tehran’s nuclear programme which it has always said was strictly for peaceful purposes. Israel has said it will retaliate against Iran’s April 13 missile and drone attack, which Tehran says was carried out in response to a suspected Israeli strike on …

WASHINGTON: Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a lignite mine are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 49 feet (15 metres) in length — longer than a T. rex — that prowled the swamps of India around 47 million years ago. Scientists said on Thursday they have recovered 27 vertebrae from …