19-03-2024 BRUSSELS/ CAIRO: The European Union has announced a 7.4 billion-euro ($8.06bn) aid package and an upgraded relationship with Egypt, part of a new deal to stem migrant flows to Europe that has been criticized by rights groups. The deal is scheduled to be signed during a visit on Sunday …

19-03-2024 NEW YORK/ GAZA CITY: Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in Gaza since October 7 while others are suffering from severe malnutrition and do not “even have the energy to cry”, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Thousands more have been injured or we can’t even determine …

19-03-2024 GULF OF ADEN/ NEW DELHI: Indian naval forces including special commandos have seized a cargo vessel that had been hijacked by Somali pirates and rescued 17 crew members, a spokesperson for the navy said. In a post on the social media platform X on Saturday, the navy said that …

18-03-2024 MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin reelection in Russia’s presidential election, extending his rule by six years, has gathered strong reactions from global leaders, media reported. The VTsIOM poll run by the Russian authority announced Putin’s victory just as the time closed in the country’s westernmost area of Kaliningrad at 17:00 GMT. …

18-03-2024 WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden took jabs on Saturday at former President Donald Trump with jokes about the mental fitness of his election opponent during a speech at the Gridiron Club dinner, a Washington tradition that began in the 1880s. Biden’s appearance at the dinner, in which politicians and …

18-03-2024 JERUSALEM/ DOHA: The main UN aid agency operating in Gaza said on Saturday that acute malnutrition was accelerating in the north of the Palestinian enclave as Israel prepared to send a delegation to Qatar for new ceasefire talks on a hostage deal with Hamas. The United Nations Relief and …

18-03-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India is to elect a new parliament in what is the largest democratic exercise with 970 million registered voters. The Indian Election Commission said on Saturday that the elections will take place in seven phases from 19 April to 1 June, stretched over …

18-03-2024 WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said on Saturday if he does not win November’s presidential election it will mean the likely end of American democracy. The Republican presidential candidate, speaking to supporters in Ohio, made the claim after repeating his baseless assertion that his 2020 election defeat to Democratic President Joe …

18-03-2024 UNITED NATIONS/ KHARTOUM: Nearly five million people in Sudan could suffer catastrophic hunger in parts of the war-torn country in the coming months, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths warned the Security Council on Friday in a note seen by Reuters. Griffiths said acute levels of hunger were being …

18-03-2024 NIAMEY: Niger’s ruling junta has revoked with immediate effect a military accord that allows military personnel and civilian staff from the US Department of Defense on its soil, junta spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane said on Saturday. The decision follows a visit by US officials this week which was led …