International

LOS ANGELES: The Emmy Awards have been postponed by almost four months, organisers said on Thursday, as crippling strikes by Hollywood’s actors and writers drag on with no resolution in sight. Television’s equivalent of the Oscars had been due to take place this September, but will now be held in mid-January next year, broadcaster Fox and the Television Academy wrote …

WASHINGTON: Virgin Galactic launched its first tourist passengers into the weightlessness of space on Thursday, the culmination of a nearly two-decade commercial pursuit, the company said. The three passengers — Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, and her teenage daughter Anastatia Mayers — floated gravity-free through the Virgin spacecraft about 45 minutes after taking off. “They are officially astronauts. Welcome to space,” …

ABUJA: The West African bloc ECOWAS on Thursday ordered the activation of a standby force for possible use against the junta that took power in Niger in July, saying it wanted a peaceful restoration of democracy but all options including force were on the table. After a summit of its heads of state in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the bloc …

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi citizen working for the United Nations has been freed after a year and a half abduction by Al Qaeda in Yemen, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday. “I never thought I would return home,” Akam Sofyol Anam told re­porters in Dhaka, following his return a day earlier on Wednesday, calling the last 18 months “horrifying”. “I …

SEOUL: South Korea authorities evacuated more than 14,000 people and closed schools in flood-hit areas as tropical storm Khanun swept over the peninsula on Thursday, having pounded southern Japan over the past week. Downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm, Khanun made landfall on the southeast coast, and was heading towards the South Korean capital Seoul. Khanun could also …

Subway sandwiches in India will no longer come with the option of a free cheese slice following revisions to its menu that analysts regarded as being more about cost-cutting than just a matter of taste. American chain Subway is one of the largest restaurant franchisees in India, with around 800 outlets. They now charge 30 rupees ($0.40) extra for the …

YANGON: At least 17 people drowned when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myan­mar’s Rakhine state broke up at sea this week, rescuers said on Thursday. Thousands of Rohingya risk their lives each year making perilous sea journeys from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to try to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia. Byar La, a rescuer from the Shwe Yaung …

DUBAI: Iran agreed to release four American-Iranian dual nationals from Tehran’s Evin prison under a prisoner exchange deal between Tehran and Washington, its mission to the United Nations said on Thursday. “Under the deal mediated by a third country, five Iranians jailed in the United States will be released and Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea will be unblocked and …

By: Raja Zahid Akhtar Khanzada Houston: In the presence of Pakistan’s Consul General Aftab Chaudhry, State of Texas Representative Dr. Suleman Lalani, Tariq Majeed – Pakistani Association Austin, and former Test Cricketer Jalaluddin, the Houston community under the Alliance for Disaster Relief (AFDR), Helping Hands USA, and Houston Karachi Sister City Association, on August 5, 2023, sent a 40-foot container …

KAHULUI: Wildfires fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane devastated Hawaii’s Maui island on Wednesday, killing six people and forcing tourists and residents to flee as beloved holiday destinations became flaming infernos. Some people were forced to jump into the ocean to escape the smoke and fire conditions, prompting the US coast guard to rescue them, according to a …