18-12-2024 DHAKA: Elections in Bangladesh could be held by the end of 2025, the head of the country’s interim government said on Monday, provided that electoral reforms are carried out first. Bangladesh has been ruled by an interim government led by its only Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August, when …

18-12-2024 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU: India’s private sector output grew at the fastest pace in four months, preliminary readings from a survey showed, helping the economy end 2024 on a positive note underpinned by sturdier demand in services and manufacturing and record jobs growth. Asia’s third-largest economy grew a …

18-12-2024 SANA’A: Yemen’s Houthi group has said it launched a missile attack targeting central Israel, vowing to continue its military operations against the country until the Israeli military ends its war on Gaza. The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a televised address that the operation on Monday was …

18-12-2024 GAZA STRIP: Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza, firing at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north and killing two people in Beit Lahiya, four in the Shati refugee camp and five others in Gaza City. The victims of Israel’s bombings included Khaled Nabhan, a grandfather in Gaza who …

18-12-2024 BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for early elections on 23 February. Scholz called Monday’s vote and had expected to lose it, but calculated that triggering an early election was his best chance of reviving his party’s political fortunes. …

18-12-2024 TEHRAN: Iran’s National Security Council has paused the implementation of the controversial “hijab and chastity law”, which had been due to come into force on Friday. President Massoud Pezeshkian called the legislation “ambiguous and in need of reform”, signaling his intention to reassess its measures. The proposed new law …

17-12-2024 JERUSALEM/ GAZA STRIP: Israeli forces killed at least 50 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including in four attacks targeting schools where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, medics say. The victims included Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Al-Louh, two other Palestinian journalists and five members of the …

17-12-2024 DAMASCUS/ LATAKIA: Syrian Christians attended regular Sunday services for the first time since the dramatic overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, in an early test of assurances by the new Islamist rulers that the rights of minorities will be protected. As the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham …

17-12-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: India’s Reliance Industries, opens new tab said on Friday it has bought a 74% stake in an industrial area developer, situated in the country’s financial hub of Mumbai, for 16.28 billion rupees ($192 million). Navi Mumbai IIA was renamed from Navi Mumbai …

17-12-2024 BALI/ CANBERRA: The five remaining members of the infamous “Bali Nine” drug ring say they are “relieved and happy” to be home in Australia, after serving nearly 20 years in Indonesian prisons. Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj arrived back in the country …