12-03-2023 LOS ANGELES: Torrential rain has brought flash flooding and landslides to California, closing roads, felling trees and raising avalanche fears, in the latest winter storm to hammer the state. President Joe Biden offered emergency federal assistance over the atmospheric surge, known as a “Pineapple Express”. The National Weather Service …

12-03-2023 JERUSALEM: Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken part in what some are calling the biggest protest in the country’s history. Protests against government plans for a radical overhaul of the judicial system have been running for 10 weeks. Record numbers of demonstrators turned out in cities such as …

12-03-2023 PARIS: France’s Senate, the upper house of its parliament, approved a contentious reform to the nation’s pension system, a move being considered a win for President Emmanuel Macron during his second presidential term. Senators passed the reforms by 195 votes to 112, bringing the package another step towards becoming …

12-03-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Police in India have arrested three men in eastern Bihar state in connection with the death of a Muslim man who was attacked because he was suspected of carrying beef, a police official said to media. The victim, Naseem Qureshi, 56, died earlier this week …

12-03-2023 WASHINGTON: Startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis on Friday, in a sudden collapse that roiled global markets, left billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors stranded. California banking regulators closed the bank, which did business as Silicon Valley …

12-03-2023 BEIJING: Four years before Li Qiang gained notoriety as the force behind the two-month COVID-19 lockdown of Shanghai, the man who became China’s premier on Saturday worked quietly behind the scenes to drive a bold revamp of the megacity’s sclerotic stock market. Li’s back-channelling sources said he bypassed the …

12-03-2023 MOSCOW: Mercenary force boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his Wagner private army has opened recruitment centres in 42 Russian cities as he seeks to replenish the army’s ranks after heavy losses in fighting for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. In an upbeat audio message on Friday, Prigozhin said new fighters …

12-03-2023 BERLIN: Sorrow, solidarity and shock are among the sentiments being expressed in Germany as the country comes to terms with a mass shooting in which seven people died at a Jehovah’s Witness place of worship in Hamburg. Several other people remain in a critical condition after a gunman fired …

12-03-2023 Bureau Report KABUL/ BALKH/ ISLAMABAD: An explosion during an award ceremony for journalists in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province has killed at least one person and wounded eight others, according to a Taliban police spokesman. The explosion took place at the Tabian Farhang centre in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of the …

12-03-2023 BAMAKO: Mali’s interim government has postponed a constitutional referendum, a key step on the country’s path towards elections meant to restore democracy after a military takeover in 2020. “The transitional government informs national and international opinion that the date of the referendum scheduled for March 19, 2023 … will …