04-08-2025 VATICAN CITY: Hundreds of thousands of young faithful feted Pope Leo XIV like a rock star on Saturday at an open-air prayer vigil outside Rome, after the head of the Catholic Church made a dramatic entrance by helicopter. Pilgrims began crying and cheering when the white military helicopter descended …

04-08-2025 GAZA/ CAIRO: Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established, in response to one of Israel’s key demands in talks about a ceasefire in Gaza. The Palestinian armed group said it was responding to remarks it attributed to US President …

03-08-2025 PARIS/ GAZA STRIP: France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza as it urged Israel to allow full access to the area which it said was slipping into famine. “Faced with the absolute urgency, we have just conducted a food airdrop operation in Gaza. …

03-08-2025 DAMASCUS/ BEIRUT: Syria has pledged to investigate clashes in the southern province of Sweida which killed hundreds of people last month, the second major episode of sectarian violence since the ouster of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. In a decree dated July 31, justice minister Muzher al-Wais said a …

03-08-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India is engaged in trade talks with the United States, an Indian government source with knowledge of the discussions said on Friday, a day after US President Donald Trump signed an order imposing a 25% tariff on New Delhi’s exports. Trump set steep import duties …

03-08-2025 BOGOTA: Colombian former President Alvaro Uribe has been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest for witness tampering and a fraud charge. The 73-year-old is the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted of a crime. He has also been barred from public office and fined …

03-08-2025 WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to “be positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to “highly provocative” comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Trump said he acted “just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words …

03-08-2025 JAKARTA/ MEDAN: Indonesia has begun releasing hundreds of inmates from prison, including people convicted of political offences, after parliament approved the first stage of President Prabowo Subianto’s wide-ranging clemency plan, reportedly aimed at building national solidarity. A first group of 1,178 inmates were to be released on Friday after …

03-08-2025 GAZA STRIP: Gaza faces a grave risk of famine, with one in three people going days without food, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned. UNICEF on Friday urged the international community to act swiftly as conditions continue to deteriorate due to Israel’s genocidal war. “Today, more than 320,000 …

02-08-2025 GAZA STRIP: Starvation is spreading across the Gaza Strip, and the only organization on the ground mandated to provide food aid stands accused of grave rights violations and the targeting of civilians. The controversial United States and Israel-backed GHF took over aid distribution in Gaza in May, after Israel …