International

19-02-2024 BEIJING: China’s coast guard said on Sunday it will strengthen its law enforcement activities and carry out regular patrols around a small group of Taiwanese-controlled islands off the Chinese coast as tensions rise over the deaths of two Chinese nationals. Taiwan on Thursday defended the actions of its coast …

19-02-2024 JERUSALEM: Israel has sent negotiators for truce talks in Cairo as requested by U.S. President Joe Biden but they did not go back for further talks because Hamas’ demands were “delusional,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. Netanyahu also said Israel would not give in to “international dictates” …

19-02-2024 MADRID: Voters went to the polls in Spain’s northwest region of Galicia on Sunday in a close-run race where polls have suggested the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP) could lose an absolute majority that it has held for 15 years. The PP have ruled the region for all but …

19-02-2024 BAGHDAD: A visit by the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force to Baghdad has led to a pause in attacks on US troops by Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, multiple Iranian and Iraqi sources told media, saying it was a sign Tehran wants to prevent a broader conflict. Esmail Qaani …

18-02-2024 MOSCOW: The hundreds of flowers and candles laid in Moscow on Friday to honor the memory of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, were taken away overnight in black bags. Russia’s prison service said that Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the …

18-02-2024 CAIRO/ GAZA CITY: Satellite images appear to show extensive construction work in progress along Egypt’s border with Gaza, which reports claim is being carried out in preparation for housing Palestinian refugees. Unnamed Egyptian sources reportedly said the work is being done in order to set up an isolated buffer …

18-02-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies SYDNEY: Australian authorities said on Saturday asbestos had been discovered in more places in Sydney, including housing estates, as the New South Wales government continued a weeks-long scramble to remove the toxic material from mulch used in public areas. The contamination was discovered in January …

18-02-2024 WASHINGTON/ GAZA CITY: The United States is preparing to send more bombs and other weapons to Israel even as it pushes for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and has said it opposes Tel Aviv’s plans for a ground invasion in southern Rafah where more than half the …

18-02-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: A little more than two months ago, the Congress party, India’s biggest opposition force, seemed to be on a roll. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of what is the country’s oldest political movement, the party of Mahatma Gandhi, had attracted large crowds on a …

18-02-2024 SANA’A/ DUBAI: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has claimed a new missile attack on Western interests amid Israel’s war on Gaza, this time on a British oil tanker that the United States identified as a Panamanian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil bound for India. Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesperson, said …