International

OTTAWA: A Canadian court ruled on Thursday that the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran last year was deliberate and an “act of terrorism”, paving the way for possible compensation for victims’ families. Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice found that “on a balance of probabilities” two missile strikes on the plane, belonging to the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), shortly …

BENGALURU: India said on Friday it was working to alleviate a shortage of a medicine used to treat a rare fungal disease hitting Covid patients as its healthcare system reels under a massive wave of coronavirus infections. Cases of mucormycosis, or “black fungus”, a potentially serious condition that causes blurred or double vision, chest pain and breathing difficulties, have surged …

DHAKA: Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are close to running out of coronavirus vaccines, authorities said on Friday, and are hoping China and Russia will bolster their South Asia’s efforts to tackle the devastating pandemic wave. The three countries are counting on vaccine campaigns to head off the next surge. But India’s move last month to ban vaccine exports because …

The ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza was holding on Saturday, as humanitarian aid began to enter the Israeli-blockaded enclave ravaged by 11 days of aerial bombardment by the Israeli military. As thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to their homes, international focus turned to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, shattered by Israeli air strikes. In Jerusalem, however, …

China’s Mars rover drove from its landing platform and began exploring the surface on Saturday, state-run Xinhua news agency said, making the country only the second nation to land and operate a rover on the Red Planet. The launch last July of the Tianwen-1 Mars probe, which carried the Zhurong rover, marked a major milestone in China’s space programme. Tianwen-1 …

STOCKHOLM: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has set her sights on changing how the world produces and consumes food in order to counteract a trio of threats: carbon emissions, disease outbreaks and animal suffering. In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Thunberg said the environmental impact of farming as well as disease outbreaks such as COVID-19, which is believed …

WASHINGTON: Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution in the US Senate on Thursday to block a $735 million weapons sale to Israel, mirroring a symbolic action by the House of Representatives in response to the situation in Gaza Strip. “At a moment when US-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale …

NEW YORK: Google announced plans on Thursday for its first-ever physical retail store, set to open in New York this year, as the tech giant moves increasingly into gadgetry in competition with Apple. The retail outlet will open this summer in the Chelsea neighbourhood, where Google has a large regional office with many of its 11,000 New York employees. “At …

ALEPOCHORI: More than a dozen Greek villages were evacuated on Thursday as firefighters battled the country’s first major blaze of the year on a mountain range overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. No injuries were reported, but “it will be a hard night… we’re fighting in difficult conditions,” junior civil protection minister Nikos Hardalias said. People were evacuated before dawn from …

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to issue a call for an end to Israel’s devastating violence against the Palestinians in Gaza, saying “it is time to say enough.” Addressing an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Qureshi said Israel had mounted a “relentless onslaught” on the people of Palestine, resulting in …