MUSCAT: The Oman authorities imposed a ban on catching and trading kingfish for a period of two months, local media reported. According to the Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries, and Water Resources (MAFWR), the ban is in effect from August 15 to October 15, 2024, in accordance with Ministerial Resolution No. (230/2014). As per the ban, no one will be allowed to catch or trade the kingfish within the Sultanate of Oman during the prohibited period of two months. According to the Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries, and Water Resources, the decision is aimed at guaranteeing sustainable fishing methods and…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
Firefighters were “working to extinguish the final pockets of fire” on Saturday after a large blaze broke out at London’s historic Somerset House cultural centre, with flames leaping out from underneath its roof. Some 25 engines and around 125 firefighters were called upon to tackle the blaze, the London Fire Brigade posted on X, formerly Twitter. The official X account of the Renaissance building, which opened in 1796, said that “owing to a fire in one small part of Somerset House, the site is currently closed.” The fire broke out in the building’s roof. It added that “all staff and…
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Saturday on a mission to the Middle East to push ahead a Gaza ceasefire deal, as cautious optimism rises. The top US diplomat, who is putting off vacation plans for his ninth trip to the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, will fly to Tel Aviv ahead of expected meetings with the Israeli leadership. He has routinely visited Arab states on previous trips, but no further stops were immediately announced. Blinken flew out of Andrews Air Force Base after two days of ceasefire talks urged by President Joe Biden…
About 68 million people in Southern Africa are suffering the effects of an El Nino-induced drought which has wiped out crops across the region, the regional bloc SADC said on Saturday. The drought, which started in early 2024, has hit crop and livestock production, causing food shortages and damaging the wider economies. Heads of state from the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) were meeting in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare to discuss regional issues including food security. Some 68 million people, or 17% of the region’s population, are in need of aid, said Elias Magosi, SADC executive secretary. “The 2024 rainy…
Some Indian junior doctors remained off the job on Sunday, demanding swift justice for a colleague who was raped and murdered, despite the end of a 24-hour strike called by the country’s biggest association of doctors. Doctors across the country have held protests, candlelight marches and have refused to see non-emergency patients in the past week after the killing of the 31-year old postgraduate student of chest medicine around the early hours of August 9 in the eastern city of Kolkata. Women activists say the incident at the British-era RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has highlighted how women in…
WILKES-BARRE: Republican Donald Trump said on Saturday he believed Democrat Kamala Harris will be easier to beat than President Joe Biden even as some polls showed her edging ahead in the race for the Nov. 5 presidential election. Trump, the former president, held a rally on Saturday in Wilkes-Barre in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, a state looming large in the campaign. Vice President Harris will conduct a bus tour of western Pennsylvania starting in Pittsburgh on Sunday, ahead of the kickoff of the Democratic National Convention on Monday in Chicago. “I believe she will be easier to beat than…
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Raoof Hasan maintained contacts with Indian journalist Karan Thapar through WhatsApp after American Rain Garam and allegedly urged him to publish negative narrative against Pakistan Army. On November 19, 2022, Raoof Hasan, acting as the party’s media coordinator, reached out to Indian journalist Karan Thapar. In the initial WhatsApp message, Thapar inquired about a potential interview with Shah Mehmood Qureshi. On November 24, 2022, Karan Thapar shared a YouTube interview with Rana Banerjee, a former RAW officer, with Raoof Hasan. The interview discussed the current Army Chief, General Asim Munir, with Thapar describing him…
Hurricane Ernesto knocked out power, downed trees and flooded parts of Bermuda on Saturday but the British island territory appeared to have escaped major injuries or property damage, officials said after an initial assessment. The Category 1 storm unleashed powerful winds and whipped up 35-foot (10-meter) seas, leading to power loss for 71% of the territory’s 36,000 customers, officials said. “I’m happy to report that there have been no calls for service for any major incidents or damage to any property, and those calls that we’ve received over the last six hours or so are primarily flooding,” risk management official…
In the hours before Ukrainian soldiers stormed across Russia’s western border, there was no sign from Moscow that anything was amiss. At midnight at the start of Aug. 6, the Russian defence ministry posted good news: more than 2,500 members of the regiment responsible for the capture of a town in eastern Ukraine would receive state awards for heroism. Later that morning, as Ukraine began the biggest invasion of Russia since World War Two, the ministry published video showing General Valery Gerasimov, commander of the Russian war effort, visiting a different combat zone, also in Ukraine. He heard reports from…
A wave of protests has swept across India following the rape and murder of a doctor in West Bengal. Thousands of women participated in “Reclaim the Night” marches in cities including Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune, demanding justice for the victims and prosecution of the perpetrators. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association has called for renewed protests. Demonstrators have accused the central government of political interference in the case. Meanwhile, new incidents have been reported, including the rape and murder of a nurse in Uttarakhand and the gang rape of a Dalit girl in Bihar. According to the National…
