30-09-2024 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India gave the go-ahead on Saturday for exports of non-basmati white rice to resume as inventories in the world’s biggest exporter of the grain surge and farmers prepare to harvest a new crop in the coming weeks. Bigger rice shipments from India would beef up …

30-09-2024 BRUSSELS: The Catholic Church’s failures in responding to sexual abuse by clergy have been in focus again during Pope Francis’ visit this weekend to Belgium, with the pontiff facing calls from high-profile figures and survivors for more concrete action. The country’s king, prime minister and a Catholic university rector …

30-09-2024 WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Saturday deployed some of his harshest rhetoric against immigrants who have crossed the border illegally and committed crimes, especially against young women, while he also escalated his personal insults against Kamala Harris. In the battleground state of Wisconsin, Trump called Democratic Vice President Harris, who …

29-09-2024 BEIRUT/ CAIRO: The body of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been recovered from the site of an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs and is intact, a medical source and a security source told media on Sunday while Hezbollah’s statement on Saturday confirming Nasrallah’s death did not …

29-09-2024 BEIRUT/ JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON: The Lebanese group Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Hassan Nasrallah, its longtime leader, in an air strike on the group’s underground headquarters near the capital, Beirut. Hours after Israel claimed killing the 64-year-old Nasrallah, the Iran-backed Hezbollah on Saturday said its leader “has joined his …

29-09-2024 TOKYO: Japan’s incoming Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, said he wanted to clean up his ruling party, revitalise the economy and see off security threats from powerful neighbors after triumphing in his fifth and what he called final leadership bid on Friday. The 67-year-old former defence minister narrowly prevailed over …

29-09-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ AJMER/ KOLKATA: The Indian government has slashed its goal to create thousands of new tribunals to try sex crimes speedily after states like West Bengal, where the recent brutal rape-homicide of a doctor shook the nation, fell far short of targets, according to …

29-09-2024 BAGHDAD: A US-led coalition’s military mission in Iraq will end by September 2025 and there will be a transition to bilateral security partnerships, the United States and Iraq said in a joint statement on Friday. The US has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as …

29-09-2024 NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar’s military coup leaders have urged their opponents to put down their weapons and start political dialogue, in a surprise move that was swiftly rejected. The State Administration Council (SAC), as the military has styled itself since seizing power in February 2021, urged the ethnic armed groups and …

29-09-2024 UNITED NATIONS: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged Israel will fight until “total victory” in its continuing war on Gaza and promised to continue attacks on the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, as hopes faded for a ceasefire that could head off an all-out regional war. Several delegations walked out …