International

FOR many, after-work drinks are a common way of relaxing after a busy week. But one worker in Japan could be nursing a protracted hangover after he lost a USB memory stick following a night out with colleagues, according to a BBC News report. Why? It contained the personal details of nearly half a million people. The unnamed man placed the memory …

GENEVA: The United Nations said on Friday that 3.5 million children in Bangladesh urgently needed safe drinking water following this month’s devastating floods. Unicef, the UN children’s agency, said it needed $2.5 million quickly in order to fund its emergency response. Relentless downpours last week inundated vast stretches of Bangladesh’s northeast, with troops deployed to evacuate households cut off from …

GAYAN: Aid trickled to devastated villages in remote parts of Afghanistan on Friday but thousands of people remain without food, shelter and water three days after the country’s deadliest earthquake in decades. Wednesday’s 5.9-magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged east along the border with Pakistan while people slept, killing more than 1,000 and leaving thousands homeless. Entire villages have been …

Beijing on Saturday said it would allow primary and secondary schools to resume in-person classes and Shanghai’s top party boss declared victory over Covid after the city reported zero new local cases for the first time in two months. The two major cities were among several places in China that implemented curbs to stop the spread of the Omicron wave …

The Islamabad High Court has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the family of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving a jail sentence in an American prison, in getting a US visa so that they could visit her. Aafia — a US citizen of Pakistani origin — was convicted by a US court in 2010 on charges of …

DUBAI: Veterinarians are called in to inspect the sheep at an abattoir in Dubai ahead of one of Islam’s major festivals. The municipality is now encouraging residents to use smart apps to order the sacrificial animals. Demand is all-year round in the emirate, with mask-clad workers at the abattoir in Al Qouz industrial area — one of many in Dubai …

ISLAMABAD: After the United Kingdom discovered the poliovirus in sewage samples in London for the first time in the last four decades, suspicion has fallen on Pakistan as being the source. However, health authorities in Islamabad claim the “vaccine-derived virus” found in the UK exists in 22 countries and the type found locally was the wild poliovirus (WPV). The UK …

KYIV: Ukraine on Thursday said it was “waiting for the green light” to receive EU candidacy status as European leaders met in Brussels to discuss Kyiv’s future, four months into the Russian invasion. “We are waiting for the green light, Ukraine has earned candidate status,” the head of the Ukrainian presidency Andriy Yermak said on Telegram. He added that Ukraine’s …

KABUL: A devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, which killed at least 1,000 people and flattened homes in remote villages close to the Pakistani border, poses the biggest challenge yet for the Taliban since they seized power nearly a year ago. The hardline group is governing an impoverished country beset by severe drought, widespread hunger and economic crisis and where the …

ANKARA: Turkey and Israel have begun work on restoring their mutual diplomatic representation to ambassador level, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday as the two countries seek an end to more than a decade of strained ties. The two countries expelled ambassadors in 2018 and have often traded barbs over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Energy has emerged as a …