International

ROME: More than 400 migrants have been rescued from a boat off Malta after an 11-hour operation, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Wednesday after its ship responded to a distress alert. While heading to shelter in the Mediterranean due to bad weather, MSF’s rescue ship the Geo Barents received the distress signal, the charity tweeted. The Geo Barents finally …

LONDON: Britain on Wednesday announced it had leased a barge to house around 500 asylum seekers on England’s south coast as it seeks to cut lodging costs for migrants arriving on its shores. The Home Office said the accommodation barge will be used “to reduce the unsustainable pressure on the UK’s asylum system and cut the cost to the taxpayer …

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday for the first formal meeting of their top diplomats in more than seven years, after China brokered a deal to restore ties between the regional rivals. After years of hostility that fuelled conflicts across the Middle East, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to end their diplomatic rift and re-open …

April 4 (UPI) — After pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts related to falsifying records in multiple hush-money schemes earlier Tuesday, former President Donald Trump used a late-night speech to recount a number of grievances with state and federal courts and political opponents. Former President Donald Trump arrives inside State Supreme Court at 100 Centre Street for his arraignment after a …

NEW DELHI: The manufacturer of eye drops that have been linked to an outbreak of serious bacterial infections in the US, including at least three deaths, did not follow proper protocol to prevent contamination of its products, according to an inspection report by the US Food and Drug Administration. According to the CNN, the FDA visited a Global Pharma Healthcare …

ANKARA: A second-time presidential candidate who lost out to Tayyip Erdogan in a 2018 vote could push Turkiye’s May election to a second round, potentially boosting the president’s prospects of winning, according to analysts and polls. Muharrem Ince, formerly of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), joined the fray last month and secured a spot on the ballot at …

KABUL: Afghan women who are United Nations employees have been blocked from work in eastern Nangarhar province, the UN mission said on Tuesday, warning Taliban authorities its aid programmes are impossible without its staff. In December, Taliban officials ordered all foreign and domestic NGOs to stop women personnel working across the crisis-stricken nation. Several suspended their entire operations in protest, …

DHAKA: Hundreds of Bangladeshi firefighters battled an inferno that raged through a popular clothing market in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday and blanketed the city’s oldest neighbourhoods in black smoke. No fatalities have been reported so far, but shop owners and fire officials told reporters that the famous Bongo Bazar and three adjacent markets had been almost completely gutted in …

WASHINGTON: The renowned Time magazine on Tuesday published a cover story on former prime minister Imran Khan in its latest edition, putting his picture on the title page with the caption: ‘The Astonishing Saga of Imran Khan’. The article caught the attention of PTI leaders as well, and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry immediately put it on his Twitter account, along with …

NEW YORK: Former president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a historic moment for the United States on Tuesday, as prosecutors accused him of paying two women to suppress their accounts of sexual encounters with him. The indictment, unsealed after Trump’s court appearance along with a statement of facts, alleged that Trump …