17-03-2024 WELLINGTON/ PARIS: Boeing has told airlines operating 787 Dreamliners that pilots need to check their seats as an investigation into an incident on a Latam flight continues. It comes after 50 people were hurt this week when a 787 dropped suddenly during a Latam Airlines flight. The Wall Street …

17-03-2024 GAZA CITY: The first maritime humanitarian aid shipment to Gaza has been unloaded on to the shore. The US charity behind the mission, World Central Kitchen, is carrying out the mission in co-operation with the United Arab Emirates. The shipment contained 200 tonnes of food desperately needed for Gaza, …

17-03-2024 QUEENSLAND/ SYDNEY: Australian researchers have found coral bleaching around six islands in the far northern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, after a government agency said last week a major bleaching event was unfolding across the world’s most extensive reef ecosystem. Scientists at the James Cook University said on …

17-03-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ WASHINGTON: India has rejected comments by a United States official raising concern over the implementation of a religion-based citizenship law as “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”. On Monday, just weeks before the general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government announced rules to …

17-03-2024 BEIRUT/ TEHRAN: With ally Hamas under attack in Gaza, the head of Iran’s Quds Force visited Beirut in February to discuss the risk posed if Israel next aims at Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an offensive that could severely hurt Tehran’s main regional partner, seven sources said. In Beirut, Quds chief Esmail …

17-03-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ KABUL/ PARIS: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by a worrying increase in the restrictions imposed on journalists, with authoritarian directives on women journalists’ dress, restrictions on women’s access to the audiovisual media and a ban on filming or photographing Taliban officials. The Afghan …

16-03-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India appointed two officials as election commissioners on Thursday, filling vacant spots in the three-person body ahead of an expected announcement of a date for a national election likely to be won by incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The appointments come days after …

16-03-2024 WASHINGTON/ JERUSALEM: US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has called for new elections in Israel, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritizing his “political survival” above the country. Schumer, a Democrat and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, said Netanyahu had “lost his way”. He warned that huge …

16-03-2024 TOKYO: A small Japanese rocket exploded shortly after launch in a blow to Tokyo-based startup Space One’s attempt to become the first local company to put a satellite into orbit. The 18-metre (60 feet), four-stage solid-fuel rocket called Kairos exploded into pieces seconds after liftoff at 11.01am (02:01 GMT) …

16-03-2024 WEST BANK: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed his longtime economic adviser Mohammed Mustafa to be the next prime minister in the face of US pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington’s post-war vision for Gaza. Mustafa, a US-educated economist and political independent, now faces the …