07-09-2024 NAIROBI: At least 17 pupils have died after a dormitory at a boarding school in central Kenya caught fire on Thursday night, police said. There are fears the death toll could rise as more than a dozen others have been taken to hospital with severe burns. The cause of …

07-09-2024 WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s Maori chiefs have anointed a 27-year-old queen as their new monarch. The choice of Nga Wai hono i te po Paki was welcomed as a symbol of change for the Indigenous community. She is the youngest child and only daughter of King Tuheitia, who died last …

07-09-2024 WASHINGTON/ MANAGUA: The United States has secured the release of 135 political prisoners held in Nicaragua, including students and members of a faith organization. In a statement on Thursday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the prisoners were among the thousands of Nicaraguans caught up in a multiyear …

07-09-2024 DHAKA: Thousands of people rallied Thursday in Bangladesh’s capital to mark one month since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising sparked by students over government job quotas. Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after weeks of violence left more than 600 people dead, …

07-09-2024 UNITED NATIONS/ GAZA CITY: UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said more than one million people in central and southern Gaza did not receive any food rations in August, adding the “humanitarian situation in Gaza remains beyond catastrophic”. Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Israeli military is refusing to coordinate the entry …

07-09-2024 WASHINGTON: Hunter Biden has pleaded guilty to all nine charges in his federal tax evasion case, catching federal prosecutors off guard as they prepared to begin his trial on Thursday. The son of US President Joe Biden had previously denied allegations that he intentionally avoided paying $1.4m (£1m) in …

07-09-2024 PARIS: Veteran French conservative Michel Barnier has taken over as prime minister, almost two months after France’s snap elections ended in political stalemate. He said France had come to a “serious moment” and he was facing it with humility: “All political forces will have to be respected and listened …

06-09-2024 BRAZZAVILLE: The first shipment of nearly 100,000 doses of mpox vaccines is expected to arrive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday. The Central African country of about 100 million people is at the epicentre of an mpox outbreak that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared …

06-09-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The leaders of India and Singapore on Thursday signed an agreement to partner and cooperate in semiconductors, in a deal aimed at giving Singaporean firms a greater role in supply chains in the Indian market, the two countries said. A Memorandum of Understanding …

06-09-2024 JAKARTA: Only rockstars and presidents can usually fill Indonesia’s national stadium, but on Thursday it was octogenarian Pope Francis who drew more than 80,000 fans to a Catholic Mass in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. The event was the high point of the 87-year-old pope’s four days in the …