METTUR, India: Despite failing 238 times in his bid for public office in India, K. Padmarajan is unperturbed as he prepares, yet again, to contest elections in the world’s largest democracy. The 65-year-old tire repair shop owner began fighting elections in 1988 from his hometown of Mettur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.People laughed … Read more
LONDON: As Maha Alharbi looks out into the chic dining room of Queen Mama’s Kitchen, past bubbling pots of lamb shank mandi and rows of golden dallah coffee pots, it is not only Arabs who have stopped in for iftar, but Americans. Here in Portland, Oregon, in one of the only Saudi Arabian restaurants in … Read more
Can new UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag get more aid into embattled Gaza? DUBAI: Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s newly appointed senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, faces a monumental task as she takes the reins of the world body’s relief operations in the embattled Palestinian enclave. Twelve weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment and restrictions … Read more