International

18-03-2023 ROME: The Cosa Nostra got a lot of attention due to the extraordinary coverage in Hollywood. However, Italy is home to several other organized crime groups. Among them is the “Fourth Mafia”, based in Foggia in the southeast, which has gained notoriety for its violent tactics. The group is …

18-03-2023 LONDON: The United Kingdom government has proposed a contentious new law that would allow authorities to deport people arriving on its shores via small boats across the English Channel that divides the island from France. Several charities and human rights groups have criticized the plan known as the Illegal …

18-03-2023 BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Moscow next week, where he will hold talks with his strategic ally Vladimir Putin just over a year into Russia’s war in Ukraine. Xi will be in Russia from Monday to Wednesday, Beijing’s foreign ministry and the Kremlin …

18-03-2023 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ VIENNA : Australia said a deal to buy 220 US Tomahawk cruise missiles was essential for keeping “adversaries at bay” Friday, as Canberra ratchets up defence spending to counter growing Chinese military clout. Defence industry minister Pat Conroy said the potent long-range weapons would be deployed …

18-03-2023 NAYPYIDAW: At least 29 people, including three Buddhist monks, were shot dead at close range in central Myanmar last week, according to a doctor’s post-mortem report, in what opponents of military rule say was a massacre of civilians conducted by the army. A spokesman for Myanmar’s junta, which staged …

17-03-2023 LONDON: Global cocaine production has reached record levels as demand rebounds following COVID lockdowns, a new report has found. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said coca cultivation rose by 35% between 2020 and 2021 to record levels. Findings suggest new hubs for trafficking have emerged in West …

17-03-2023 WASHINGTON: The United States military has released footage it says is of an unsafe interception of a US drone by a Russian jet over the Black Sea. The US on Tuesday alleged that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet struck one of its Reaper drones during a surveillance and reconnaissance …

17-03-2023 TAIPEI, BEIJING: Chinese search engine giant Baidu has revealed its artificial intelligence-powered chatbot Ernie, the latest rival to OpenAI’s groundbreaking ChatGPT. Baidu Chief Executive Robin Li said on Thursday that Ernie, known as Weixin in Chinese, was the result of “decades of Baidu’s hard work and efforts” at a …

17-03-2023 VIENNA/ UNITED NATIONS/ TRIPOLI: Two and a half tons of uranium have gone missing from a site in Libya, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sounded the alarm after a visit by its inspectors to the undisclosed site earlier this week. They found …

17-03-2023 ISTANBUL: Flash floods killed dozens of people living in tents and container housing set up across Turkey’s quake-hit region on Wednesday, piling more pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of crunch elections. Several more people were swept away by the rushing water, which turned streets into muddy rivers …