17-05-2024 PARIS/ SYDENY: The French government sent more police to the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Thursday and said it would crack down on rioters, hoping to restore order after three nights of upheaval in which four people have been killed. Rioters angry with an electoral reform have burnt …

17-05-2024 WASHINGTON/ BEIJING: The US would be better served by maintaining its open trade system rather than imposing new punitive duties on Chinese goods, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, adding that Washington and Beijing should work together to resolve their trade tensions. IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack told a …

17-05-2024 SINGAPORE CITY: Singapore’s first prime minister in 20 years held an initial cabinet meeting on Thursday after taking office with a pledge to sustain what he called the miracle of the wealthy city state amid an uncertain global environment. After being sworn in on Wednesday night, attending a party …

17-05-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: An AI video shows an ecstatic Narendra Modi sporting a trendy jacket and trousers, grooving on a stage to a Bollywood song as the crowd cheers. The Indian prime minister reshared the video on X, saying “such creativity in peak poll season is …

17-05-2024 JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israel’s military says five soldiers have been killed by Israeli tank fire in northern Gaza, in one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war against Hamas began in October. An initial probe found that two tanks fired at a building in Jabalia refugee …

17-05-2024 BRUSSELS/ NEW YORK: The European Union is investigating Facebook and Instagram over whether they are so addictive that they are having “negative effects” on the “physical and mental health” of children. It will also scrutinize if have done enough to check whether users are old enough to use them, …

17-05-2024 ALGIERS: A man who vanished almost 30 years ago at the age of 17 following an alleged kidnapping has been found alive in his neighbor’s house in a hole in the ground in a sheep pen underneath stacks of hay. Named as Omar Bin Omran (or Imran) and said …

16-05-2024 JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to present a highly contested bill that seeks to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military to a ministerial committee on Thursday. His office said on Wednesday that Netanyahu sought to bridge societal and political divisions and that he was calling on …

16-05-2024 AMMAN: Jordan has foiled a suspected Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the US-allied kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage, according to two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the matter. The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell …

16-05-2024 GENEVA: Conflict has forced more than 68 million people to leave their homes as of the end of 2023, the highest figure since data became available 15 years ago. Natural disasters made a further 7.7 million people homeless, pushing the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to a …