17-12-2023 CAIRO/ GAZA: A US security envoy had talks with Israel about shifting its strategy in Gaza toward surgical operations against Hamas and away from a broad ground campaign, as Palestinians reported heavy attacks along the narrow coastal strip on Friday. Israeli tanks and planes intensified their bombardment of the …

17-12-2023 ZURICHBERG: FIFA President Gianni Infantino believes the global governing body’s policy of engagement with Iran over the treatment of women in football is bearing fruit after some were allowed into the Tehran derby on Thursday. Women’s rights campaigners Open Stadiums and another group of former Iranian athletes last year …

17-12-2023 BRUSSELS: European Union leaders agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine even as it continues to fight Russia’s invasion, but they could not agree on a 50 billion euro package of financial aid for Kyiv due to opposition from Hungary. At a summit in Brussels, other leaders bypassed objections …

Hyderabad, Dec.16 (PMI): On Friday evening, sleuths of Special Operations Team (SOT), Balanagar Zone along with Jeedimetla police, apprehended two interstate drug peddlers identified as Bablu Khare alias Krishna and Govind Patidar of Madhya Pradesh for transporting ganja from Odisha to Maharashtra and seized 400 kg Ganja, a lorry and two …

16-12-2023 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies WASHINGTON/ NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reiterated its request to the Biden administration to designate India as a “country of particular concern” under the US Religious Freedom Act, citing its transnational repression against religious minorities. …

16-12-2023 PARIS: Global coal use is expected to reach a record high in 2023 as demand in emerging and developing economies remains strong, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Friday. Demand for coal is seen rising 1.4% in 2023, surpassing 8.5 billion metric tons for the …

16-12-2023 TOKYO: Embattled Japanese premier Fumio Kishida dropped four cabinet ministers on Thursday, as he tried to limit the fallout from the biggest financial scandal his ruling party has faced in decades. The ousted ministers included chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura in Kishida’s third cabinet …

16-12-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW: An Indian court has granted permission to survey a centuries-old mosque to determine if it contains Hindu relics and symbols, a lawyer said on Thursday, in a boost to Hindu groups which claim it was built on a site of a destroyed …

16-12-2023 BRUSSELS: European leaders have decided to open EU membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidate status to Georgia. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the decision, made at a summit in Brussels, as “a victory” for his country and Europe. A spokesperson for Charles Michel, the President …

16-12-2023 NAYPYIDAW: The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic armed organization operating in Myanmar’s northern Shan State, was massing forces near his village on the Chinese border and he sensed that fighting was imminent. So the 27-year-old, who had already secured a job in the construction sector in …