24-03-2025 WASHINGTON/ LONDON: Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as “a posture and a pose” by Donald Trump’s special envoy. Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a “simplistic” notion of the UK Prime Minister and other European …

23-03-2025 GAZA STRIP: An Israeli air strike in the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official told media on Sunday. Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, a member of the group’s political office, and his wife. Israeli …

23-03-2025 LONDON: London’s Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday, a day after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe’s busiest airport, causing global travel chaos. Some flights were cancelled or delayed as the travel industry scrambled to reroute passengers and fix battered airline schedules after the …

23-03-2025 NEW YORK: Columbia University agreed to some changes demanded by US President Donald Trump’s administration before it can negotiate to regain federal funding that was pulled this month over allegations the school tolerated antisemitism on campus. The Ivy League university in New York City acquiesced to several demands in …

23-03-2025 ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian troops have killed more than 300 Fano armed group fighters, former allies against rebels in the Tigray region, in two days of renewed clashes in the northern Amhara region, according to the army. The military claimed in a statement on Friday that the fighters had carried …

23-03-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW: It was the month of Ramadan in 1974, and the northern city of Lucknow, a hub of India’s Shia community, was on the boil. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, a stalwart of India’s then-ruling Indian National Congress party, had taken over as the chief …

23-03-2025 ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned growing protests in Turkey days after the arrest of a key opposition figure. In a speech on Friday, Erdogan said his government would not “surrender” to “vandalism” or “street terror” ahead of more protests. “We will not accept the disruption of public …

23-03-2025 WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will revoke the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Those migrants have been warned to leave the country before their permits and deportation shield are cancelled on 24 April, according …

23-03-2025 BEIRUT/ JERUSALEM: Israel says it is attacking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after rockets were fired from there into Israel for the first since a ceasefire deal came into effect in November. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces “to act forcefully against …

22-03-2025 WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, fulfilling a campaign pledge and a long-cherished goal of some conservatives. Accusing the agency of “breath-taking failures”, the Republican president vowed to return the money it controls to individual states. “We’re going to …