International

10-01-2026 DAMASCUS: The Syrian army launched new strikes in parts of Aleppo on Thursday after ordering residents to evacuate, accusing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of using Kurdish-majority areas to launch attacks as clashes entered a third day. The army released more than seven maps identifying areas it said …

10-01-2026 MELBOURNE/ SYDNEY: Parts of Australia will face catastrophic fire conditions on Friday, when heatwaves are expected to hit most of the country. Severe to extreme heatwaves have been declared in every state and territory in Australia, except for Queensland, with high temperatures forecast for days. The state of Victoria …

10-01-2026 TEHRAN: There were violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in several locations in Iran on Wednesday, as a wave of unrest sparked by the country’s economic crisis continued for an 11th day. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, said two policemen …

09-01-2026 MINNEAPOLIS: A US immigration agent has shot dead a 37-year-old woman in the city of Minneapolis, sparking protests overnight. Federal officials said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, had tried to run over immigration agents with her car but the city mayor said the agent who shot her had acted …

09-01-2026 HARGEISA: A senior official from Somaliland’s governing party has fiercely defended the breakaway region’s decision to normalize relations with Israel, dismissing widespread condemnation from the Arab and Muslim world as hypocritical. In a heated interview, Mubasher on Wednesday, Hersi Ali Haji Hassan, chairman of the ruling Waddani party, argued …

09-01-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s finance ministry plans to scrap five-year-old restrictions on Chinese firms bidding for government contracts, two government sources said, as New Delhi seeks to revive commercial ties in an environment of reduced border tensions. The curbs, imposed in 2020 after a deadly clash between the …

09-01-2026 TEHRAN: The protests in Iran started on a cold December day after several merchants at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, along Jomhouri (Republic) Avenue, closed their shops in protest. They grew weary of watching the Iranian national currency, the rial, continue to plummet. It had already lost nearly half of its …

09-01-2026 CARACAS: As the fallout from the United States’ abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro continues to unfold, an immediate question is how his ouster will impact Venezuela’s economy. A lot will depend on any relief in US sanctions on Venezuela, relations between Maduro’s replacement and the US, and, perhaps …

09-01-2026 LONDON: Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed, Palestine Action-linked British activists on the brink of death, are determined to keep up their prison hunger strike until their demands are met, their friends and relatives have told media. They have refused food for 67 and 60 days, respectively, as part of …

09-01-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Dressed in black for the occasion, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met Tarique Rahman, son of the deceased former Bangladeshi’s Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with sombre expressions on their faces. Khaleda had passed away the previous day, on December 30, and Jaishankar was among a …