WASHINGTON: About a half-dozen doctors who recently returned from providing medical care in the devastated Gaza Strip urged the Biden administration Tuesday to impose an immediate arms embargo on Israel, saying that without one, the US remains complicit in the bloodshed that has devastated the coastal enclave. Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Tammy Abughanim said the result of Israel’s over 10-month war “has been to make life literally impossible for a civilian in Gaza right now.” “When I say we cannot afford one more day of this, and when they tell…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
A 116-year-old Japanese woman is the likely heir to the title of oldest living person in the world, according to a research group. Born on May 23, 1908, Tomiko Itooka resides in Ashiya, a city in the Hyogo province of western Japan. A former mountaineer, she is 116 years and 3 months old, the Gerontology Research Group, based in Los Angeles, California, said in a statement. Tomiko’s candidacy for a Guinness World Records Oldest Person title comes after Maria Branyas, former holder of the crown, died on Monday at the age of 117. Born on March 4, 1907, in San…
CHICAGO: The politically divisive White House race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has also highlighted a marked voting divergence between women and men, according to polling data and analysts. Democrat Harris, who s of Black and South Asian descent, is vying to be the United States’s first woman president, while Trump is known for making comments denigrating women and is an advocate of restricting abortion rights. In a CBS opinion poll released this week, 56 percent of women surveyed said they would vote for Harris, while 44 percent backed Trump, a Republican. Conversely, 54 percent of men surveyed backed…
RIYADH: The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has announced that more than 45,000 beneficiaries of the Tamkeen initiative received support in the first half of 2024, with 38,000 securing employment in Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the Tamkeen initiative aims to improve living conditions and promote financial independence by offering services such as job and training opportunities, entrepreneurial support, and skill development programs. The initiative operates on three main platforms: employment, economic, and qualification and training. By mid-2024, over 10,813 beneficiaries completed 423 training courses and workshops at social security offices nationwide, according to ministry…
The European Union is set to reimpose stricter rules on liquids in hand luggage at airports across the region, effective September 1. Passengers will once again be limited to carrying containers of no more than 100 milliliters, and must pack them in a single transparent plastic bag with a maximum volume of 1 liter. The tightened regulations come after EU officials raised concerns about the reliability of new computer tomography (CT) baggage scanners, which had led to relaxed rules at some German airport checkpoints. The scanners, which use medical technology to create 3D images of bag contents, had allowed passengers…
GUWAHATI, India: Indian authorities in Assam state have introduced a bill that would require Muslims to register their marriages and divorces, with the chief minister claiming the measure will help stop child marriage. The bill is seen as a state-level step towards the government’s proposed common civil code of law, which is bitterly opposed by Muslim activists as an attack on their faith. India’s 1.4 billion people are subject to a common criminal law, but personal matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance are governed by varying rules based on the traditions of different communities and faiths. In Assam, it…
BELGRADE: Rescuers found four bodies on Thursday as they searched for people missing after a migrant boat capsized in the Drina River separating Serbia and Bosnia, officials said. Some seven people were thought to be missing after a boat carrying around 25 migrants capsized near the border town of Ljubovija in Serbia early on Thursday, Serbian police said. Serbia is one of the main transit countries on the so-called “Balkan route” on which migrants attempt to reach the European Union. It borders four EU nations. Early on Thursday border police in Serbia were informed by the “Bosnian border authorities, as…
WASHINGTON: A New York resident who took part in China’s 1989 democracy movement was charged Wednesday with operating as an illegal agent for the Chinese government in the United States, the justice department said. Tang Yuanjun, 67, swam to a Taiwan-controlled island more than 20 years ago before being granted political asylum by the United States. He was charged on Wednesday with acting as an agent for the People’s Republic of China in the United States from 2018 to 2023, the justice department said in a statement. Tang completed “tasks at the direction of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security…
A volcanic eruption belched a plume of ash that grounded flights in New Zealand on Thursday, with government scientists warning it could continue venting for “weeks to months” to come. It is the same White Island volcano that erupted in 2019, killing 22 people. The island, once popular with tourists, lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) off New Zealand’s North Island, and 200 kilometres from Auckland, the country’s largest city. National carrier Air New Zealand said 10 flights had been cancelled early Thursday as volcanic ash drifted across flight paths. An airline spokesperson told AFP that flights had resumed after…
Indonesia’s parliament has delayed passing revisions to an elections law that had threatened to spark protests on Thursday, following outcry over legislation seen to strengthen the political influence of outgoing President Joko Widodo. The parliament had planned to ratify on Thursday morning changes that would have reversed a ruling by the constitutional court earlier this week. The legislative changes would have blocked a vocal government critic in the race for the influential post of Jakarta governor, and also paved the way for Widodo’s youngest son to run in elections in Java this November. Deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said the plenary…
