LONDON : Screenwriter Ray Galton, who co-wrote the landmark British comedy series “Hancock’s Half Hour” and “Steptoe and Son,” has died at 88. Galton’s family said Saturday that he died Friday evening after a “long and heart-breaking battle with dementia.” The London-born Galton was diagnosed with life-threatening tuberculosis as a teenager. In a sanatorium, he met another sick teen, ...

Sporting a trendy brown bob, a humanoid robot named Erica chats to a man in front of stunned audience members in Madrid.   She and others like her are a prime focus of robotic research, as their uncanny human form could be key to integrating such machines into our lives, said researchers gathered this week at the annual International Conference ...

Tokyo’s world-famous Tsukiji fish market has held its final pre-dawn tuna auction before being relocated to a new site. The world’s largest fish market, which has been in operation for 83 years, is being moved as part of the redevelopment for the 2020 Olympic Games.   The famed tuna auctions are a popular tourist attraction in the Japanese capital.   ...

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli forces have shot dead three Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, as thousands of people protested along the fence dividing the Gaza Strip and Israel. The ministry said the boy was struck in the chest, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back and another man, 28, succumbed to his wounds at hospital Friday.   It ...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped to accelerate a second summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump as he kicked off an Asian trip Saturday featuring a meeting with North Korea’s leader. Pompeo arrived in Tokyo on the first leg of a tour that will take him to Pyongyang for a fourth time as the contours ...

A woman has been appointed to run a Saudi Arabian bank in a first for women in the country. Saudi businesswoman Lubna Al Olayan will chair a new bank being formed out of a merger between the Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Alawwal Bank.   The move comes amid a liberalisation of women’s roles in a traditionally conservative society.   ...

Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) confirmed that the death toll in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Indonesia’s Sulawesi islands rose to 1,558 on Friday, reports ANI. A BNPB spokesperson revealed that over 1,000 people might still be missing in the region, as rescue dogs have been utilised to help expedite rescue missions.   Meanwhile, the United Nations allocated ...

Sinn Féin and the SDLP have rejected the possibility of Stormont having a say over what kind of backstop may emerge if there is a ‘no deal’ Brexit Proposals being worked on by the British government are said to include some kind of role for MLAs. Sinn Féin and the SDLP said they oppose this. Earlier the parties, along with ...

Photo: A Kashmiri man cries as the body of a relative is carried on a stretcher outside a local hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. Srinagar, Oct 5 : Suspected rebels on Friday shot and killed two activists affiliated with a pro-India Kashmiri political group in the disputed region’s main city, officials said, as authorities prepared ...

Samsung Electronics expects to post record operating profit in the third quarter, helped by strong demand for its memory chips. The South Korean electronics giant is forecasting operating profits of around 17.5 trillion won ($15.5bn; £11.9 bn), up 20.4% from a year ago.   The guidance is above analyst estimates for the period, boosted by its thriving chip business.   ...