International

16-11-2024 LONDON: Britain’s economy contracted unexpectedly in September and growth slowed to a crawl over the third quarter, data showed on Friday, an early setback for finance minister Rachel Reeves’ ambitions to kick-start a sustained pickup. Gross domestic product slipped by 0.1% in monthly terms during September as the services …

16-11-2024 BEIRUT: An Israeli airstrike flattened a building near one of Beirut’s busiest traffic junctions on Friday, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas of the city. One of several airstrikes on Friday morning, the attack struck near the Tayouneh junction in an …

16-11-2024 COLOMBO: The left-leaning alliance of Sri Lanka’s new leader has secured a landslide victory in the country’s snap parliamentary elections. Official results show President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) coalition scored a two-thirds majority in parliament, with 159 seats. Dissanayake, who was elected in September, needed a …

16-11-2024 NEW DELHI: Decades of caste discrimination have contributed to India having higher levels of child stunting rates than across Sub-Saharan Africa, new research has revealed. The two regions together are home to 44% of the world’s under-five population but account for about 70% of stunted children globally – a …

16-11-2024 BAKU: The United Nations’ COP climate talks are “no longer fit for purpose” and need an urgent overhaul, key experts including a former UN secretary general and former UN climate chief have said. In a letter to the UN, senior figures say countries should not host the talks if …

16-11-2024 WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has chosen vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as his new health secretary and said he will do “unbelievable things”. The news was announced by Donald Trump Jr on X, before the president-elect confirmed the appointment just moments later. Former Democrat RFK Jr, the nephew of …

15-11-2024 BEIRUT/ JERUSALEM: Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, as Lebanon waited to hear Washington’s latest ceasefire proposals after a US official expressed hope a truce could be reached. More than seven weeks since Israel went on the offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah, …

15-11-2024 COLOMBO: Sri Lanka holds a snap election on Thursday which will determine if the South Asian island nation wants to empower its new, leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to push his anti-poverty policies as it recovers from a financial meltdown. A little over 17 million Sri Lankans are eligible …

15-11-2024 PARIS/ VIENNA: European powers are pushing for a new resolution against Iran by the UN atomic watchdog’s board next week to pressure Tehran over its poor cooperation, as the world awaits the return of US President-elect Donald Trump, diplomats say. Such resolutions risk further diplomatic tension with Iran. It …

15-11-2024 JERUSALEM/ BEIRUT: The rescue workers had just left when we arrived at the scene of an Israeli air strike on a building in Aramoun, south-west of Lebanon’s capital Beirut. It was supposed to have been cleared. They had found eight bodies including three children and three women – and …