27-02-2025 LONDON: Governments around the world oversaw a record-breaking year for internet shutdowns in 2024, a new report on “digital violence” suggests. There were 296 internet shutdowns documented across 54 countries last year, surpassing the 283 shutdowns in 39 countries in 2023, says the report by Access Now and the …
Read More »Iran rules out direct talks with US
27-02-2025 TEHRAN/ WASHINGTON: Iran will not engage in direct talks with the United States on his country’s nuclear program amid US President Donald Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” against it, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said. His remarks came a day after the US imposed a fresh round of sanctions …
Read More »Israeli warplanes strike south of Damascus
27-02-2025 DAMASCUS/ JERUSALEM/ DOHA: Israeli warplanes hit a town south of Syria’s capital as well as the southern province of Daraa late on Tuesday, residents, security sources and local broadcaster Syria TV said. Israeli planes struck the town of Kisweh approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Damascus, a Syrian …
Read More »Crypto trading booms in India’s smaller cities
27-02-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ NAGPUR: Like thousands of his countrymen in far-flung places, flower-shop owner Ashish Nagose has been learning about trading cryptocurrencies by attending classes every weekday for the past two months in his home city of Nagpur in western India. Nagose bought and sold stock …
Read More »Dozens babies have died from cold in Gaza: Medics
27-02-2025 GAZA STRIP: Dozens of babies have died while several severely ill in the past two weeks in Gaza due to the cold weather and lack of adequate shelter and heating, Palestinian medics and health officials say. Doctors at the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society hospital in Gaza City, in the …
Read More »Terms of minerals deal reached with US: Ukrainian
27-02-2025 KYIV: A senior Ukrainian official says the US and Ukraine have agreed the terms of a minerals deal. It contains “a number of good amendments,” the official tells media, though details about what’s included in the revised draft remain unclear. US President Donald Trump suggests his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr …
Read More »Rape survivors recall horror of DR Congo jailbreak
27-02-2025 Warning: This article contains distressing content, including descriptions of rape, from the start. KHARTOUM: “He told me that if I tried to escape, he would kill me.” Pascaline, 22, recalls the words of her rapist at a prison in Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, …
Read More »Claims of white genocide ‘not real’: South African Court
27-02-2025 PRETORIA: A South African court has dismissed claims of a white genocide in the country as “clearly imagined” and “not real”, undermining comments made by US President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk. The ruling came as the court blocked a wealthy benefactor’s donation to white supremacist group …
Read More »Putin offers Russian and Ukrainian rare minerals to US
27-02-2025 MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is open to offering the US access to rare minerals, including from Russian-occupied Ukraine. This comes after US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for Ukraine to give up some of its minerals in exchange for support, in a deal which is …
Read More »Israel demands complete demilitarization of Syria
26-02-2025 JERUSALEM/ DAMASCUS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the complete demilitarization of much of southern Syria. It is an announcement that could make conflict between Israel and the new leadership in Syria, after the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad, more likely. In a speech to Israeli military cadets …
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