International

LONDON: He’s failed to meet key pledges, hit an opinion poll low, and even cramped the style of a popular Adidas shoe: Britain’s beleaguered Conservative leader Rishi Sunak appears destined to lose a looming general election. Two tax cuts and a slightly improving economy have failed to boost Sunak’s political fortunes, while criticism from ex-prime minister Boris Johnson and speculation over …

JAKARTA: At least 19 people have been found dead and two more are missing after a landslide in central Indonesia, local authorities said on Sunday. The dead and two survivors were evacuated from two landslide-hit villages in Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi province on Saturday evening, said local disaster agency head Sulaiman Malia. “There have been 19 fatalities, with 4 …

CHITTAGONG: Somali pirates freed a Bangladesh-flagged cargo vessel and its 23 crew on Sunday after sackloads of US dollars were air-dropped to them in ransom, the company and relatives said. The bulk carrier MV Abdullah was transporting more than 55,000 tonnes of coal from Maputo to the United Arab Emirates when it was seized by dozens of pirates around 550 nautical miles …

JERUSALEM: Israel and Hamas have accused each other of undermining negotiations for a truce in Gaza and a hostage release deal, although the talks have not collapsed. While Hamas-backer Iran was preparing to launch hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for a deadly Damascus strike, the Palestinian group announced on Saturday that it had delivered its response …

The man who fatally stabbed six people at a mall in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Bondi may have targeted women, police said on Monday, as the attacker’s father opened up about his son’s long history of mental illness and frustrations with women. Clad in shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey, Joel Cauchi, 40, roamed through the busy Westfield Bondi Junction …

A Delhi court extended on Monday the detention of Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case until April 23, legal news website Live Law reported, a setback to the opposition which needs him to campaign in general elections that begin this week. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s financial crime-fighting agency, arrested Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, in a corruption case related …

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the death of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching cars and homes, and left at …

ISTANBUL: Rescue workers finished evacuating dozens of passengers trapped for 23 hours mid-air on Saturday after a cable car accident in southern Turkiye that killed one person. Ten people were injured in the accident, which happened late on Friday afternoon in the resort city of Antalya when a supporting pylon collapsed. One cable car in the Sarisu-Tunektepe system plummeted into …

MIAMI: A former US ambassador who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba for over four decades was sentenced in federal court on Friday to 15 years in prison. Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in December for what US officials called “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.” Rocha pleaded not …

JOHANNESBURG: With less than two months to South Africa’s crunch election, scandal-tainted former president Jacob Zuma has stolen the spotlight in an unlikely comeback, further wounding the ruling ANC, analysts say. Arguably the most polarising politician in the country’s history of democracy, Zuma’s politicking can be enthralling or perplexing. The ex-leader who has made headlines almost daily in the southern …