UAE launches online weddings

Dubai: The United Arab Emirates has launched an online marriage service that allows couples to wed amid restrictions on movement and interaction imposed to counter the deadly coronavirus. The justice ministry said that citizens and residents can set a date for an online wedding ceremony conducted via video link with a cleric after their paperwork is submitted and approved — also online, according to the UAE's official news agency WAM. The procedure will see a cleric confirm the identity of the couple and witnesses, before a marriage certificate is relayed to a specialised court for validation. The couple will receive confirmation of their marriage certificate via text message. AFP

Legendary caricaturist Mort Drucker dies at 91

New York: Legendary caricaturist Mort Drucker, whose distinctive caricatures of celebrities appeared in the pages of Mad Magazine for more than five decades, died at the age of 91. The tweets from the magazine and CNN’s cheif Washington correspondent Jake Tapper on Thursday confirmed his death. On April 9, Tapper tweeted, “A friend of Mort Drucker’s, cartoonist John Reiner, emails me: “I’m sorry to say that Mort passed away last night. I saw him last Friday-he was having trouble breathing- Was not the Coronavirus as he was quarantined for weeks with no other outside contact...” Drucker won the National Cartoonists Society Medal of Honor award in 2015. IANS

Assange fathered 2 kids with lawyer in Ecuador embassy

London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with one of his lawyers while holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London for much of the past decade, a report on Sunday said. The 48-year-old Australian is allegedly the dad of two boys — aged two and one — born to South African-born lawyer Stella Morris, the Mail on Sunday reported. The report was published alongside photographs of Assange with the toddlers and an interview with Morris who said they “fell in love” and were planning to marry. The couple have been engaged since 2017, according to the paper, which said it learned about the revelations in court papers seen last week. AFP