[ Listen to article NEW YORK: US stocks closed well off earlier highs after a choppy session on Wednesday, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell chilled expectations the central bank might be poised to cut rates at its September meeting. In keeping rates unchanged, as was widely expected, the central bank said “the unemployment rate remains low, … Read more

WASHINGTON: Scientists diving to astounding depths in two oceanic trenches in the northwest Pacific have discovered thriving communities of marine creatures that get their sustenance not by eating organic matter like most animals but by turning chemicals into energy. They found these chemosynthesis-based animal communities – dominated by tube worms and clams – during a … Read more

MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia announced its T20I and ODI squads for the upcoming home series against South Africa on Wednesday. The series will begin with a three-match T20I series on August 10, followed by three ODIs in northern Australia. Young all-rounder Mitchell Owen has received his maiden ODI call-up after a strong start in the T20 … Read more

CHIBA: One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia’s sparsely populated Far East on Wednesday, causing tsunamis up to four metres (12 feet) high across the Pacific and sparking evacuations from Hawaii to Japan. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and was the largest since 2011 when one of … Read more

The latest film adaptation of hit manga and anime series Demon Slayer is breaking records in Japan, becoming the fastest film to gross 10 billion yen ($67 million), reported AFP. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle was released on July 18. According to IMDb, the film made 1.64 billion yen ($11.1 million) … Read more

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called for strengthening and better-equipping the United Nations peacekeeping to address the underlying causes of disputes, saying, “Nowhere is this more urgently needed than in Jammu and Kashmir’ — a longstanding dispute on the UN Security Council’s agenda. “This Council, which mandates the missions, must ensure that missions are deployed with an … Read more

LONDON: England captain Ben Stokes was Wednesday ruled out of the fifth and deciding Test against India with a shoulder injury. The England and Wales Cricket Board said vice-captain Ollie Pope would now lead the side in the match at the Oval starting Thursday, with England 2-1 up in the five-Test series. Stokes has struggled … Read more

Tim Minchin’s latest album Time Machine is a collection of songs that the now successful 49-year-old wrote, but never recorded, back in his twenties, when he couldn’t get a record deal. After gaining critical success as a comedian in 2005, the British-Australian Minchin went on to write the music and lyrics for hit West End … Read more