06-07-2024 MAURITANIA: Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe died and dozens more are missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week, the state news agency and a local official said on Thursday, “The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large …

06-07-2024 TEHRAN: Voting is under way to elect a new Iranian president as a hardline conservative goes head-to-head with a reformist. The run-off comes after no candidate secured a majority in the first round of the election on 28 June, which saw a historically low voter turnout of 40%. One …

06-07-2024 WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden is facing pressure from some major Democratic donors as he faces a critical few days in his campaign for re-election. A number of donors are publicly warning they will withhold funds unless Biden is replaced as the party’s candidate following his disastrous debate performance last …

05-07-2024 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has eased tourist visa requirements for Pakistani travellers with “immediate effect” wherein applicants can now submit a bank statement showing a minimum monthly credit amount of $750 or its equivalent, the Saudi Tourism Authority said on Wednesday. Pakistani tourist arrivals to Saudi grew 43% in 2023 …

05-07-2024 NEW DELHI/ BEIJING: India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday in Kazakhstan where the two agreed to step up talks to resolve issues along their border, New Delhi said in a statement. India and China share a long Himalayan border, much of it …

05-07-2024 TOKYO: It’s taken until 2024 but Japan has finally said goodbye to floppy disks. Up until last month, people were still asked to submit documents to the government using the outdated storage devices, with more than 1,000 regulations requiring their use but these rules have now finally been scrapped, …

05-07-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies SYDNEY: Senator Fatima Payman has resigned from Australia’s ruling Labor Party, days after voting against it to support a motion on Palestinian statehood. Labor has strict penalties for those who undermine its policy positions, and Ms Payman was already “indefinitely suspended” from the party’s caucus …

05-07-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The preacher who led an overcrowded gathering in India where more than 120 people were crushed to death on Tuesday has denied blame, and pledged to co-operate with the police investigation. A lawyer for the self-styled guru known as Bhole Baba told media, …

05-07-2024 LONDON: Britons were voting on Thursday in a parliamentary election that is expected to bring Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to power, sweeping away Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives after 14 often turbulent years. Opinion polls put Starmer’s centre-left party on course for a landslide victory but also suggest many …

05-07-2024 JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea of starting a ceasefire in Gaza while Hamas remains in power, after The New York Times published an article citing six current and former security officials who said a truce would give Israeli troops time to prepare for a …