International

Military helicopters winched stranded storm survivors to safety in New Zealand on Wednesday after Cyclone Gabrielle killed four people and displaced 10,500 more. With the storm now fading into the South Pacific, rescue teams have finally reached regions cut off by days of torrential rain and gale-force winds. The New Zealand military deployed three NH90 helicopters on reconnaissance and rescue …

Foreign ministers of four European countries and Canada joined Washington on Tuesday in opposing a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to authorise nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank. The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States issued a joint statement voicing concern over the plans announced by Israel on Sunday. …

Indian tax officers searched the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second day on Wednesday, two sources said, as controversy swirled over a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in deadly riots two decades ago. The searches resumed Wednesday morning after they went on until late in the night on Tuesday, a government source and …

TEHRAN: An Iranian policeman was reprimanded last week after he did not enforce the country’s dress code requiring women to cover their hair. A video was widely shared on social media on Monday, showing a policeman in the western province of Kermanshah telling a woman that he did not consider the hijab to be compulsory for women.     “This …

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday set out ambitions to more than triple annual defence exports to $5 billion over the next two years, as arms firms flocked to a major air show for a slice of the nation’s massive import budget. The country is looking to sign defence deals worth 750 billion rupees ($9bn) at the biennial five-day …

WASHINGTON: Pakistan and the United States began their defence talks in Washington on Monday to enhance coordination on strategic issues and explore various options for ramping up bilateral military and security ties. The four-day talks, ending on Feb 16, is a second round of the Pakistan-US Mid-Level Defence Dialogue. The first round was held in Pakistan in January 2021. Chief …

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Israelis protested outside parliament on Monday against the government’s controversial judicial reform plan, which aims to give lawmakers substantially more control over the supreme court. The measures, which were inching towards approval through a series of preliminary votes inside the chamber, have provoked widespread criticism and charges that they would give the legislative branch nearly …

LONDON: Eight Afghan journalists who worked for the BBC broadcaster won a legal challenge on Monday against Britain’s refusal to relocate them from Afghanistan, which they said put them at high risk of being killed by the Taliban rulers. The journalists’ lawyers told London’s High Court in December that the government had “betrayed the debt of gratitude” owed to them …

GALESNJAK: Part of Croatia’s unique heart-shaped Adriatic islet nicknamed by tourists the Island of Love is up for sale. The uninhabited islet of Galesnjak in the Pasman channel is one of the most recognisable Croatian islets and part of it is being offered to prospective buyers for development. “Over a million photos per year are made on and around the …

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will send its first-ever woman astronaut on a space mission later this year, state media has reported, in the latest move to revamp the kingdom’s ultra-conservative image. Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi male astronaut Ali Al-Qarni on a mission to the International Space Station “during the second quarter of 2023”, the official Saudi Press Agency said. It added …