International

LONDON: Former Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon was on Sunday arrested as part of an investigation into financial irregularities, according to police. Her detention marks the third arrest in the probe, which has sent shockwaves through Scotland’s political system, long dominated by the Scottish National Party (SNP). “A 52-year-old woman has today … been arrested as a suspect in connection with …

MOSCOW: Russia’s most powerful mercenary said on Sunday that his Wagner fighters would not sign any contract with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, publicly refusing an attempt by the defence ministry to bring his fighting force under its sway. On Saturday, the defence ministry said that in the interests of increasing the effectiveness of “volunteer detachments”, all such units — or …

CAIRO: Three British tourists were missing on Sunday after a motor yacht caught fire in Egypt’s Red Sea, authorities said. The Red Sea governorate said in a statement that “15 English passengers, 10 members of the crew, and two tour guides” had been rescued, and that the search for the three missing was ongoing. Video circulating on media and on­line …

BEIJING: Marriages in China dropped in 2022 to their lowest since records began, local news outlet Yicai reported on Sunday, continuing a steady decline over the past decade although the matrimonial total may have been affected by stringent Covid lockdowns. Just 6.83 million couples completed their marriage registrations last year, data published on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed, …

The link between the Afghan Taliban and proscribed militant outfits Al-Qaeda and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains “strong and symbiotic”, a report published by the United Nations (UN) said. The fourteenth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the UN Security Council’s 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee — released on Friday — noted that a “range of terrorist groups has greater …

LONDON: UK opposition leader Keir Starmer on Sunday demanded a general election as three MPs from the ruling Conservative Party, inclu­ding Boris Johnson, quit parliament following a probe into Covid lockdown-breaking parties. Labour leader Starmer tweeted that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “must finally find a backbone, call an election, and let the public have their say on 13 years of …

FRANKFURT: More than a third of men in Germany find violence against women “acceptable”, according to survey results that campaigners described as “shocking” on Sunday. A total of 33 per cent of men aged 18-35 said they found it “acceptable” if “their hand slipped” occasionally during an argument with their female partner, according to the survey set to be published …

DUBAI: Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday said a deal with the West over Tehran’s nuclear work was possible if the country’s nuclear infrastructure remained intact, amid a stalemate between Tehran and Washington to revive a 2015 nuclear pact. Months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear accord with six major powers have stalled since September, with …

A man was charged with dangerous driving on Monday after at least 10 wedding guests were killed when the bus they were travelling in crashed at a roundabout in Australia’s worst bus accident in almost 30 years, police said. Twenty-five people were injured in the accident around 11:30pm on Sunday near the town of Greta, about 180km northwest of Sydney, …

WASHINGTON: The latest twist in Donald Trump’s attritional war with US law enforcement, as with so much else in the former president’s story, throws the United States into unprecedented territory. Facing multiple federal charges over his hoarding of government secrets, the mercurial Republican presents the country with the possibility of a winning candidate moving into the White House while under indictment …