08-09-2025 BRUSSELS: Google has been fined €2.95bn (£2.5bn) by the EU for allegedly abusing its power in the ad tech sector, the technology which determines which adverts should be placed online and where. The European Commission said on Friday the tech giant had breached competition laws by favoring its own …

08-09-2025 GAZA STRIP: Hamas has released a video showing two Israeli hostages seized from a music festival during its cross-border attack in October 2023. The video claims to show Guy Gilboa-Dalal in Gaza City in late August, where he says he and eight others are being held and will remain …

08-09-2025 WASHINGTON/ CARACAS: United States President Donald Trump had ordered the deployment of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Puerto Rico amid a report he is weighing options for strikes targeting drug cartels operating inside Venezuela, according to news organizations. Sources in the US told news agencies on Friday that 10 …

08-09-2025 KHARTOUM: In January 2024, Ahmed Abubakr Imam picked up a rifle to defend his community. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had just captured four of the five provinces in Sudan’s sprawling western region of Darfur, South, East, Central and West, in a lightning attack as it advanced in …

08-09-2025 CAIRO/ DOHA: Egypt and Qatar have expressed strong condemnation over remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the displacement of Palestinians, including through the Rafah crossing. In a statement on Friday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the comments as part of “ongoing attempts to prolong escalation …

07-09-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: The Indian rupee slipped to an all-time low on Monday, pressured by weakness in regional currencies and sustained outflows from local equities but central bank intervention helped avoid sharp losses, traders said. The currency ended at 84.3925, eclipsing its previous record low …

07-09-2025 PARIS: France faces a slew of key sovereign debt rating reviews from next week, with the risk of a downgrade rising as the government, which looks set to lose a confidence vote on Monday, struggles to gain backing for an unpopular debt-cutting plan. While France’s rating was downgraded by …

07-09-2025 BANGKOK: Thailand’s parliament convened to choose a new prime minister after days of political chaos, in a vote that could be overshadowed by the dramatic departure from the country of its most powerful politician, Thaksin Shinawatra. Polarising billionaire Thaksin, the central figure in a tumultuous two-decade battle for power …

07-09-2025 KABUL: Rescuers have recovered hundreds of bodies from mountainous areas of southeastern Afghanistan, which was hit by a major earthquake at the weekend, taking the death toll to more than 2,500, according to a Taliban government spokesperson. Previous estimates said some 1,400 people were killed. Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat …

07-09-2025 UNITED NATIONS: Wildfires made significant contributions to air pollution last year, according to the United Nations’ weather and climate agency. In a report released on Friday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said wildfires, likely to have been made more frequent by climate change, are releasing a “witches’ brew” of …