International

LONDON: UK hospital doctors on Monday began a three-day strike over pay at the start of a week that will also see teachers, train staff and civil servants walk out, in the latest wave of industrial action. The doctors say years of below-inflation pay increases mean they have effectively had a 26 per cent pay cut since 2008. Ahead of …

RAMALLAH: The oldest Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail was released on Monday after serving a 17-year sentence for arms smuggling, an advocacy group and his son said. Fuad Shubaki, 83, was released from Ashkelon prison and is “on his way to Ramallah” in the occupied West Bank, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club said, which was confirmed by …

SEOUL: North Korea said on Monday it had test-fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine, as South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest joint military exercises in five years. Nuclear-armed Pyongyang said the test verified its “nuclear war deterrence means in different spaces” as it slammed the drills — known as Freedom Shield — which will …

LONDON: Britain’s BBC reinstated its highest-paid presenter Gary Lineker on Monday after its suspension of the former England football captain for criticising state immigration policy brought a public backlash and near mutiny at the public broadcaster. Embarrassingly for the BBC, it had to axe core weekend sports coverage after presenters, pundits and commentators refused to work in solidarity with Lineker. Some staff, opposition …

NEW DELHI: India’s top court on Monday referred petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages to a larger, constitutional bench next month, a day after the government said it opposed the unions. LGBTQ rights in India have expanded in recent years and, if the current case is successful, the country would become only the second Asian jurisdiction after Taiwan to …

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden declared the US banking system “safe” and vowed stiffer bank regulation, after US regulators were forced to step in with a series of emergency measures following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, threatening to trigger a broader crisis. “Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe. Your deposits will be …

China will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted by allowing all categories of visas to be issued from Wednesday. The removal of this last cross-border control measure imposed to guard against Covid-19 comes after authorities last month declared victory over the virus. Tourist industry insiders do not …

China warned on Tuesday that Australia, Britain and the United States were treading a “path of error and danger” after they unveiled a nuclear-powered submarines deal. Australia announced on Monday it would buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines, then build a new model with US and British technology under an ambitious plan to bulk up Western muscle across the …

Lahore jumped more than 10 places to become the city with the worst air in the world in 2022, according to an annual global survey by a Swiss maker of air purifiers. The report published on Tuesday by IQAir also said that Chad in central Africa had replaced Bangladesh as the country with the most polluted air last year. IQAir measures air …

San Diego: At least eight people died after two fishing boats capsized off the coast of San Diego, California, emergency officials said on Sunday. San Diego fire rescue said in a statement that a search and recovery operation began late on Saturday night, when the department received calls about fishing boats in distress off the coast of San Diego’s Black’s …