International

17-12-2025 BEIJING/ RIYADH: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that China has always regarded Saudi Arabia as a priority in its Middle East diplomacy and an important partner in its global diplomatic strategy and is willing to work with Saudi Arabia to elevate bilateral ties to new heights. …

17-12-2025 BERLIN: Five men have been arrested in Germany suspected of being involved in a plot to drive a vehicle into people at a Christmas market. Three Moroccans, an Egyptian and a Syrian were detained on Friday over the plan to target a market in the southern Bavarian state. Authorities …

17-12-2025 SANTIAGO: Far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast has won a run-off election to become Chile’s 38th president, ousting the centre-left government currently in power. On Sunday, with nearly all the ballots counted, Kast prevailed with nearly 58 percent of the vote, defeating former Labour Minister Jeannette Jara, a Communist Party …

17-12-2025 PARIS: France has urged the European Union to postpone a vote on a trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur, saying conditions are not yet in place for an agreement. In a statement from Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office on Sunday, Paris said that EU member states cannot …

16-12-2025 KYIV: More than a million households are without electricity in Ukraine after a barrage of overnight Russian strikes hit energy and industrial infrastructure, officials said. Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, Ihor Klymenko, said five regions were hit and at least five people were injured and work was under way to …

16-12-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ KOLKATA: Angry fans attending Lionel Messi’s tour of India ripped up seats and threw items towards the pitch after his appearance at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium. Thousands of adoring supporters had paid up to 12,000 rupees (£100; $133) to catch a glimpse of the football …

16-12-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ PARIS: NEW DELHI: India and France have struck a deal to revise their 1992 treaty which will halve the tax on dividends paid by Indian units to French parents, potentially saving millions for companies with major operations in the South Asian nation, documents …

16-12-2025 UNITED NATIONS/ KHARTOUM: A drone attack has hit a United Nations facility in war-torn Sudan, killing six peacekeepers, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. The attack on Saturday hit the peacekeeping logistics base in the city of Kadugli, in the central region of Kordofan, Guterres said in a statement. Eight …

16-12-2025 WASHINGTON/ DAMASCUS: United States President Donald Trump has pledged to pursue “serious retaliation” against the armed group ISIL (ISIS) after an ambush in central Syria killed two US service members and one civilian interpreter, also from the US. The attack on US forces on Saturday was the first to …

16-12-2025 MINSK: Belarus has freed 123 prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova, in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States. John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, announced the lifting of sanctions on potash on Saturday after two days of …