International

19-05-2026 GAZA STRIP: Top leaders of the main Palestinian political faction, Fatah, are electing its highest decision-making body, at its first major conference in a decade. The 90-year-old Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas who rules by decree was re-elected as head of Fatah on Wednesday. Leading figures are promising unity and …

19-05-2026 BRAZZAVILLE: Africa’s top health agency has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province. Around 246 cases and 80 deaths have been reported, mainly in the gold-mining towns of Mongwalu and Rwampara, said the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Ugandan …

19-05-2026 WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has cautioned Taiwan against formally declaring independence from China. “I’m not looking to have somebody go independent,” the US president told Fox News on Friday, at the end of his two-day summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te …

19-05-2026 RAMMUN/ WEST BANK: Fresh off the seventh forced displacement of his central West Bank Bedouin community since 1948, Abu Najjeh was not in a contemplative mood leading up to Nakba Day. He said he was in a rush, too busy reacting to the crises of the day, the continuing …

18-05-2026 TEHRAN: Iran has submitted a response to the latest United States proposal to end the war via mediator Pakistan as a fragile truce comes under growing strain. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a press briefing on Monday that Tehran’s response to the latest US proposal had been …

18-05-2026 JERUSALEM: Israel says it has killed Hamas commander Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, who it described as “one of the architects of the October 7 massacre”, in an air strike on Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yisrael Katz said in a joint statement that Haddad had …

18-05-2026 NEW YORK: China’s UN ambassador on Friday criticized a proposed US-Bahraini resolution on the Strait of Hormuz, saying the content and timing were not right and passing it would not be helpful. The draft ‌resolution demands Iran halt attacks and mining in the strait but diplomats have said it …

18-05-2026 WASHINGTON: US health officials are monitoring reports of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda and providing technical assistance to their governments, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control ‌and Prevention said on Friday. Africa’s top public health agency said on Friday there was a …

18-05-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ DUBAI: India and the United Arab Emirates agreed the framework for ‌a strategic defence partnership on Friday, the Indian foreign ministry said, as they seek to deepen ties amid the Iran war. The two countries also signed pacts on strategic petroleum reserves and supply of …

18-05-2026 OTTAWA: Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting Alberta, days after a separatist movement in the western province faced a major legal setback in its push for a referendum on the issue. Carney’s visit on Friday was officially to unveil a new agreement laying the groundwork for a crude …