07-01-2024 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies KARACHI/ KABUL/ BAGHDAD/ TEHRAN: Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim militant group which claimed responsibility for two deadly blasts in predominantly Shi’ite Iran this week, has been operating in the shadows since it was allegedly largely crushed by a US-led coalition. Here …

07-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: When the world’s last reigning queen announced her abdication, history was also made in a country far, far away. “I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik,” Queen Margrethe II of Denmark said. Her decision to make way for …

07-01-2024 CAIRO/ GAZA/ JERUSALEM: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Europe’s senior diplomat Josep Borrell began a new diplomatic push on Friday to stop spillover from the Gaza war into Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Red Sea shipping lanes. Their Middle East visits came three months since Hamas militants …

07-01-2024 BAGHDAD/ WASHINGTON: The Iraqi government is beginning the process to remove the US-led international military coalition from the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office said on Friday. The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says advises and assists local forces …

07-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy yesterday rescued the crew of a merchant vessel after its attempted hijack in the Arabian Sea and said it had not found any pirates on board. An Indian Navy warship intercepted the Liberian-flagged MV Lila Norfolk bulk carrier less than …

07-01-2024 TEHRAN: Iranian authorities said on Friday that security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in two bomb blasts that killed nearly 100 people at a memorial service for a slain military commander. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kerman, southeastern Iran, …

07-01-2024 BOGOTA: Peace talks between Colombia’s government and the largest FARC dissident group managed to get the rebels to suspend kidnappings, free 10 hostages, and reduce clashes with the country’s military in under three months, a government negotiator said on Friday. The government of leftist President Gustavo Petro wants to …

HYDERABAD’ 7’Jan 2024 (Shoukat-PMI) In a significant breakthrough, Raidurgam police, under the Cyberabad police commissionerate has successfully apprehended a notorious ransom kidnap gang. The gang, involved in 23 cases across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, employed a strategy of conspiring with the close associates of hostages to demand substantial amounts. The …

06-01-2024 WASHINGTON: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for a congressional hearing after expressing disappointment over the US Department of State’s continuous failure to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC)”. The commission stated this in response to the State Department’s list of …

06-01-2024 NEW YORK: A second batch of court papers linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein show how dozens of girls were recruited at his beachfront mansion. A Florida detective says in testimony that 30 women had spoken to him about “performing massage and work” there. Some were paid to bring …