International

BERLIN: Smoking weed will soon be legal for over-18s in Germany, but addiction experts are calling for more prevention efforts to ensure young people are protected from the dangers of cannabis use. Under one of the most liberal drug laws in Europe, adults in Germany will from April 1 be allowed to carry up to 25 grams of dried cannabis …

GENEVA: An exceptionally rare haze of Saharan dust cloaked Switzerland and southeastern France on Saturday, sparking health warnings as a yellow hue tinged the sky. The phenomenon, which began in Switzerland on Friday, brings with it “a very clear worsening of sunlight and visibility. Added to that is an increase in concentrations of fine particles”, the MeteoSuisse weather service posted …

GAZA CITY: The Palestine Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens wounded by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery Saturday in northern Gaza, where famine looms. The Red Crescent said three of them had been shot dead. Video footage shows a convoy of trucks moving past burning debris near the distribution point in pre-dawn darkness as …

LONDON: The United Kingdom’s Labour party reported a loss of membership by 23,000 over its Gaza policy and environmental messaging, new figures revealed. Official figures showed that memberships fell from 390,000 in January to 366,604 last week, though the party is leading in opinion polls and widely believed to win in the next general election after a 14-year rule of …

Turkish voters went to the polls on Sunday in municipal elections, with all eyes on Istanbul, the national “jewel” that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to pry away from the opposition. Erdogan’s road to power in Turkiye began in Istanbul when he was elected mayor of the mythic city straddling Europe and Asia in 1994. His allies held the city …

Top leaders of India’s opposition coalition and thousands of supporters rallied in the capital on Sunday, decrying “autocracy” in protest at the arrest of a senior colleague ahead of general elections. Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was detained earlier in March in connection with a …

KYIV: Ukraine imposed emergency blackouts on three regions after Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones at its power stations late on Thursday night. Moscow has stepped up its aerial bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure in response to deadly Ukrainian assaults on Russia’s border regions. National grid operator Ukrenergo said its dispatch centre was “forced to …

NEW DELHI: The suspicious death of Mukhtar Ansari, a jailed politician from Uttar Pradesh, will be investigated by a magistrate after his family claimed he was poisoned, reports said on Friday. A three-member team is expected to commence the investigation into his death shortly, an order by Chief Judicial Magistrate Banda said. Mukhtar Ansari was declared dead on March 28 …

India’s main opposition party said on Friday it had been asked to pay an additional 18.2 billion rupees ($218 million) in taxes, which it called an attempt by the tax department to financially cripple it weeks before general elections. Calling the latest notice from the Income Tax Department “tax terrorism”, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken told reporters the party would fight …

WASHINGTON: Pakistan-facing US experts noted on Friday that President Joe Biden’s letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was a gesture not extended to his predecessor, Imran Khan. However, they also pointed out that Mr Biden did not congratulate Mr Sharif for assuming power or winning the election. “What distinguishes this anodyne message to the Pakistani leadership is the absence of any reference …