International

NEW DELHI: Twelve South African cheetahs arrived in India on Saturday as part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the spotted cats in the south Asian country. The big cats landed in their new country aboard an Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft, the second batch to arrive following another eight cheetahs transferred from Namibia last year. The latest arrival …

GENEVA: The United Nations rights chief on Saturday warned that recent advances in artificial intelligence posed a grave threat to human rights and called for safeguards to prevent violations. This week more than 60 nations including the United States and China called for regulating AI in defence to ensure it “does not undermine international security, stability and accountability”. There have …

UNITED NATIONS: The UN weather agency has reminded major powers that balloons provide valuable input in real-time for weather forecasts and climate monitoring. “Weather balloons have been a very important part of the global observing network for decades as they are the primary source of data above the ground,” the UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Friday. “Weather balloon …

MUNICH: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday accused Russia of committing “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine, saying Moscow’s forces had conducted “widespread and systemic” attacks on the country’s civilian population. She made the comments at the Munich Security Conference, days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion which unleashed war in Europe for the first time in …

MUNICH: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday blasted the US reaction to what Washington has called a Chinese spy balloon as “hysterical and absurd”, in uncharacteristically strong remarks against the top Western power. Addressing a gathering of world leaders at the Munich Security Con­f­erence, Wang said President Joe Biden’s administration has a “misguided” perception of Beijing and accused the …

ADDIS ABABA: African countries are getting a raw deal from the international financial system which charges them “extortionate” interest rates, the UN chief said on Saturday, as he announced $250 million in crisis funding, including for famine risk on the continent. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants far-reaching reforms to the structure of international finance to serve the needs …

The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 on Sunday as thousands of people remained missing a week after the storm struck the country’s North Island. The cyclone hit the island’s northernmost region on Feb 12 and tracked down the east coast, inflicting widespread devastation. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called Gabrielle New Zealand’s biggest natural …

ADDIS ABABA: As African leaders gathered on Saturday in the Ethiopian capital for the two-day African Union (AU) summit, aiming to jumpstart a faltering trade deal and focusing on challenges of armed conflict and food crisis, an Israeli diplomat was expelled out of the AU assembly. An AU official told AFP that the diplomat who was “asked to leave” had not been …

North Korea said on Sunday it had fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the day before in a “sudden launching drill” that confirmed its readiness for a “mobile and mighty counterattack” against hostile forces. North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off Japan’s west coast on Saturday afternoon after warning of a strong response to upcoming military drills …

Survivors were still being dug out of the rubble in earthquake-hit Turkiye, but for many grieving families, their only hope is that the remains of their loved ones will be found so that they can mourn at their grave site. “Would you pray to find a dead body? We do … to deliver the body to the family,” said bulldozer …