28-06-2024 PARIS/ DAMASCUS: France’s top appeals court has ruled that an arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued for alleged complicity in crimes and humanity and war crimes is valid, lawyers say. Last year, investigative judges sought the arrest of Assad and three others over a deadly chemical weapons …

Pakistan hits back at US Congress’ call for election probe 27-06-2024 WASHINGTON/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan strongly objected Wednesday to a US congressional resolution calling for an investigation into interference and fraud allegations related to Pakistan’s February 8 parliamentary elections. “We believe that the timing and context of this particular resolution does …

27-06-2024 By SJA Jafri + Agencies KARACHI: As the temperatures rose in southern Pakistan, so did the body count. The Edhi ambulance service says it usually takes around 30 to 40 people to the Karachi city morgue daily but over the last six days, it has collected some 568 bodies, …

27-06-2024 CAIRO/ RAFAH: Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave. Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid …

27-06-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the first big political test of his third term on Wednesday as a candidate from the ruling coalition was elected speaker of the lower house of parliament, defeating an opposition lawmaker. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) …

27-06-2024 LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives suffered a further fall in support after five party officials, including two candidates, were being investigated over bets on the timing on an early election, according to a new poll. The scandal is undermining the Conservatives’ efforts to close the gap on …

27-06-2024 CANBERRA: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has landed in Australia, after walking free from a US court. He hugged his wife and father at the airport as a small group of supporters cheered his arrival. He pleaded guilty to one charge in the court in the Northern Mariana Islands on …

27-06-2024 KINSHASA: A new strain of the mpox virus spreading quickly along the eastern border of Democratic Republic of Congo is “incredibly worrying”, say health officials monitoring its spread. The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, is making some people very ill and can be deadly. The …

27-06-2024 MOSCOW: For nearly fifteen months, Evan Gershkovich has been locked away in a Moscow jail. Today the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter went on trial a thousand miles from the Russian capital in Yekaterinburg: the city where he was arrested on espionage charges while on a reporting trip for …

27-06-2024 PARIS: Two neighboring countries are approaching elections that were called out of the blue. Both have governments that are expected to fall. In both countries political tensions have divided families and friends. Stop at this point, all attempts to draw parallels between the British and French elections must cease. …