17-03-2025 BEIJING/ SHANGHAI: China should choose the right timing and force in easing monetary policy, state media said on Saturday in the latest signal that further easing to boost the world’s second-largest economy may not be imminent. Days before the article in the official Shanghai Securities News, the central bank …

17-03-2025 SANA’A/ DAMASCUS: The US launches air attacks on Yemen, killing at least 31 people, with President Donald Trump warning that “hell will rain down” on the Houthis. The attacks come after the Yemeni rebel group threatened to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea over the total …

17-03-2025 WASHINGTON: More than 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave on Saturday and funding for two US news services that broadcast to authoritarian regimes was terminated, one day after President Donald Trump ordered the gutting of the government-funded media outlet’s parent and six other federal agencies. Michael …

17-03-2025 WASHINGTON/ CAIRO: Talks to extend the Gaza ceasefire have failed to reach an agreement, a Palestinian official has told the BBC, as the US accused Hamas of making “entirely impractical” demands at meetings in Qatar. Negotiators have been trying to find a way forward after the first phase of …

17-03-2025 BELGRADE: Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia’s capital on Saturday to protest over the deaths of 15 people in a railway station collapse. While the government put attendance at 107,000 across Belgrade, an independent monitor said 325,000, if not more had gathered, making it Serbia’s largest protest …

17-03-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR: A fashion show held last week in a picturesque, snow-clad town in Indian-administered Kashmir has sparked a major controversy that is still simmering. The show, by the well-known fashion brand Shivan & Narresh, was held last Friday at a ski resort in Gulmarg to …

17-03-2025 WASHINGTON: SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his Starship rocket will head to Mars by the end of next year, as the company investigates several recent explosions in flight tests. Human landings could begin as early as 2029 if initial missions go well, though “2031 was more likely”, he …

17-03-2025 KHARTOUM: The BBC has heard evidence of atrocities committed by retreating fighters in a battle raging for control of Sudan’s capital city Khartoum. The city has been held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the start of the country’s brutal civil war nearly two years ago but …

16-03-2025 WASHINGTON: A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from using a 227-year-old law meant to protect the US during wartime to carry out mass deportations of Venezuelans. Trump on Saturday proclaimed immigrants belonging to the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua were “conducting irregular warfare” against the US …

16-03-2025 WASHINGTON: A SpaceX rocket carrying a new crew has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a plan to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home. The pair were due to be on the ISS for only eight days, but because of technical issues with …