International

SYDNEY: Record-breaking floods have had a “devastating impact” on isolated towns in the Australian outback, the country’s prime minister said on Saturday. Helicopters have been winching people to safety as floodwaters rise in the sparsely populated Kimberley region of Western Australia. While the worst of the rain has eased, some towns could be cut off for the next few days. …

LUCKNOW: Indian authorities have moved nearly 200 people from their homes in the Himalayan town of Joshimath, an official said on Saturday, after hundreds of buildings in the area popular with pilgrims and tourists developed cracks due to shifting soil. For years, experts have warned that large-scale construction work, including hydropower projects, in and around Joshimath could lead to land …

PARIS: Europe has seen “extreme” warm winter weather in recent days, experts have said, with 2023 alrey posting record temperatures for January across the region. As temperatures rise globally because of human-caused climate change, scientists say heatwaves and spells of warmer-than-average weather are becoming more common throughout the year. After experiencing searing summer heat and a drought unprecedented in centuries, …

PARIS: Thousands of demonstrators marched in central Paris on Saturday to pay tribute to three Kurdish activists murdered a decade ago. The march — an annual event since the killings on January 9, 2013 — came two weeks after an eerily similar triple slaying on December 23 at the Kurdish Cultural Centre in Paris — just a few minutes’ walk from the …

KYIV: Ukrainians and Russians on Saturday marked Orthodox Christ­mas under the shadow of war, as fighting persisted despite Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin unilaterally ordering his forces to pause attacks. Despite Putin’s ceasefire order war-scarred cities in eastern Ukraine saw no significant let-up in the fighting as AFP journalists in the town of Chasiv Yar south of the frontline city of Bakhmut heard …

China lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers on Sunday, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in Covid cases. The first people to arrive expressed relief at not having to undergo the gruelling quarantines that were a fixture of life in zero-Covid China. And in Hong Kong, where the border with mainland China …

German police have taken into custody a 32-year-old Iranian citizen suspected of having procured deadly poisons cyanide and ricin to commit an “Islamist-motivated” attack, authorities in western Germany said on Sunday. The premises of the suspect in the city of Castrop-Rauxel were searched as part of the investigation, according to a joint press release from the Duesseldorf public prosecutor’s office …

The Taliban on Friday slammed Prince Harry after the royal disclosed he killed 25 people on military duty in Afghanistan and said it was like removing “chess pieces” from a board. Harry’s highly personal book “Spare” went on sale in Spain days before its global launch on Jan 10. It discloses the depth of the rift between the prince and …

Nineteen suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a wave of violence surrounding the arrest of Mexican drug cartel boss Ovidio Guzman in the northern state of Sinaloa, Defence Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Friday. Mexican security forces on Thursday captured Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Members of the Sinaloa Cartel and their …

WASHINGTON: Kevin McCarthy finally picked up some momentum Friday, winning new votes on the 12th and 13th rounds of voting, but appeared still unable to get to the victory line as a few Republicans held out. Mr McCarthy is closer to holding the speaker’s gavel, but he still doesn’t have the required 218 votes. During the 12th and 13th rounds, …