28-09-2024 BEIRUT/ JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the country’s military to continue fighting with “full force” against the armed group Hezbollah, despite calls from the US and other allies for a ceasefire. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 92 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on …

27-09-2024 TOKYO: An 88-year-old man who is the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been acquitted by a Japanese court after it found that evidence used against him was fabricated. Iwao Hakamada, who has been on death row for almost half a century, was found guilty in 1968 of killing …

27-09-2024 VICTORIA: A Hong Kong Court has jailed two journalists who led a pro-democracy newspaper after they were found guilty in a landmark sedition case last month. Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, editors at the now-defunct Stand News media outlet, had published articles about the crackdown on civil liberties in …

28-09-2024 WASHINGTON/ ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a new $7bn loan for cash-strapped Pakistan, authorities said, more than two months after the two sides said they had reached an agreement. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a statement on Wednesday hailed the deal that his team had been …

27-09-2024 BEIRUT: Israeli attacks killed 72 people across Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health says, as the death toll from Israel’s bombings surpasses 620. Some 500,000 people may now have been displaced by Israel’s massive bombing campaign across Lebanon, Lebanon’s foreign minister says. France’s foreign minister tells the UN …

27-09-2024 OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has survived a motion in parliament aimed at bringing down his government and triggering an election. Wednesday’s no-confidence vote is the first in a series of similar votes expected to be put forward by the opposition Conservative Party amid Trudeau’s plummeting approval ratings. …

27-09-2024 PARIS: The murder of a 19-year-old female student in an exclusive neighborhood of Paris is fueling new calls from the French right for tougher action on immigration. The body of the young woman, named only as Philippine, was found on Saturday, half-buried in the Bois de Boulogne Park on …

27-09-2024 KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the United Nations that Russia is planning deeper attacks on his country’s nuclear power plants, warning of possible “nuclear disaster”. He said he had received intelligence showing Moscow was using satellites provided by other countries to gather information about Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure. …

27-09-2024 JERUSALEM/ BEIRUT: Israel’s military chief has told troops that extensive air strikes in Lebanon targeting the armed group Hezbollah could pave the way for them to “enter enemy territory”. “You hear the jets overhead; we have been striking all day. This is both to prepare the ground for your …

26-09-2024 BANGKOK: Thailand’s king has signed a marriage equality bill into law, making the country the first in South East Asia to recognize same-sex unions. The bill cleared the Senate in June but required royal endorsement to become law. It was published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday and will …