International

22-03-2024 RIYADH: The US secretary of state has flown to the Middle East to discuss a post-war plan to govern and secure Gaza. Antony Blinken’s talks with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia and then Egypt will focus on what the US calls “an architecture for lasting peace”. It comes as …

22-03-2024 LONDON/ NEW DELHI: Working in extreme heat can double the risk of stillbirth and miscarriage for pregnant women, according to new research from India. The study found that the risks to mothers-to-be are significantly higher than previously thought. Researchers say hotter summers can affect not only women in tropical …

22-03-2024 DUBLIN: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will step down as party leader immediately and will resign as Taoiseach as soon as his Fine Gael successor is selected. Announcing his resignation, Varadkar described leading his country as “the most fulfilling time of my life”. He said he was stepping down …

22-03-2024 MISSISSIPPI: A former Mississippi police officer has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for torturing two black men in a house. Christian Dedmon, 29, is one of six officers convicted over the 24 January 2023 assault. Three other former officers have been sentenced to a total of more …

21-03-2024 CITY OF VICTORIA: Hong Kong’s parliament has unanimously passed a new security law which grants the government more power to quash dissent. The new legislation threatens sentences of up to life in prison for offences including treason and insurrection, as well as stringent penalties for other offences such as …

21-03-2024 ABUJA: The Nigerian government has rejected a media report published last week about a secret program of forced abortions run by the military in the country’s northeast, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said. The Reuters investigation reported that since 2013, a secret military program has involved terminating at least 10,000 …

21-03-2024 LONDON: A second royal photograph issued to the media by Kensington Palace, the office of Prince William and his wife Kate, was digitally altered in eight places, Reuters said on Tuesday after an analysis of the picture by the news organization’s photo editors. The picture, released in April last …

21-03-2024 JERUSALEM/ RAFAH/ WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spurned a plea from Joe Biden to call off a planned ground assault of Rafah, the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million displaced people, where Israel believes Hamas militants are holed up. Netanyahu told lawmakers on Tuesday he …

21-03-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India’s main reservoirs have hit their lowest March levels in five years, government data showed, indicating a possible squeeze on drinking water and power availability this summer. In major centres such as India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ Bengaluru, home to firms like Google (GOOGL.O), opens …

21-03-2024 KHARTOUM: Civilians caught up in Sudan’s civil war have given graphic accounts to the BBC of rape, ethnic violence and street executions. Our journalists have managed to make it to the front line of the fighting close to the capital, Khartoum. Top UN officials have said the conflict has …