22-03-2025 BEIJING / WASHINGTON: The US on Thursday issued new Iran-related sanctions, targeting entities including for the first time a Chinese “teapot,” or independent refinery, and vessels that supplied crude oil to such processing plants. It was Washington’s fourth round of sanctions on Iran’s oil sales since President Donald Trump …

22-03-2025 PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of the country’s latest anti-aircraft missile system on Thursday, state media KCNA reported on Friday. Kim thanked what was referred to as a research group for the system. The test-firing showed the system was “highly reliable” and its combat …

22-03-2025 CAIRO/ GAZA: At least 91 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday after Israel resumed bombing and ground operations, the enclave’s health ministry said, effectively ditching a two-month-old ceasefire. After two months of relative calm, Gazans were again fleeing for their lives after Israel …

22-03-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered “countless” government officials to execute such orders, Elon Musk’s X has alleged in a new lawsuit against New Delhi. The lawsuit and the allegations mark an escalation …

22-03-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ QUETTA: On March 11, fighters from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hijacked a Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar. After a 36-hour standoff, the Pakistani security forces were able to kill the BLA operatives and release hundreds of hostages. According to the …

22-03-2025 KABUL: A United States citizen abducted by the Taliban has been released after two years in captivity, according to the US Department of State. The release on Thursday of George Glezmann, who was abducted while travelling as a tourist in Afghanistan in December 2022, marks the third time a …

22-03-2025 KINSHASA: Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have pushed deeper into the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), capturing the town of Walikale despite growing international calls for a ceasefire. The rebels entered the mining hub in North Kivu province on Wednesday, a day after DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his …

22-03-2025 KHARTOUM: The Sudanese army has recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum from the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, military leaders have said. Video and photographs posted on social media and verified by media show jubilant soldiers waving their guns, cheering, and kneeling to pray. The army appears poised to …

21-03-2025 ISTANBUL: Thousands of Turks were expected to ramp up protests on Thursday over what they called the undemocratic detention of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu despite a ban on gatherings, police barricades and dozens of detentions over social media posts. Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, was taken in …

21-03-2025 NEW DELHI: Police in India’s northern state of Punjab detained hundreds of farmers and used bulldozers to tear down their temporary camps in a border area where they had protested for more than a year to demand better crop prices. The farmers had camped on the border with adjoining …