International

25-07-2025 LONDON: LONDON/ NEW DELHI: Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. The two countries concluded talks …

25-07-2025 DHAKA: Former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, “issued an open order” to “use lethal weapons” on students protesting against her government’s policies last year and shoot “wherever they find them”, her secret phone call recordings, accessed by media, have revealed. Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 years, resigned …

25-07-2025 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has said it will invest approximately $3bn in real estate and infrastructure projects in Syria, the latest economic lifeline to help usher in a new chapter in the nation, devastated by a nearly 14-year civil war. The $2.9bn investment is part of a broader $6.4bn in …

25-07-2025 KHARTOUM: In June, the Sudanese Armed Forces appointed Prime Minister Kamil Idris to lead the civilian cabinet in Port Sudan, the wartime capital on the Red Sea coast. Idris wanted an overhaul, to appoint a team of technocrats to run the new government but Gebreil Ibrahim and Mini Arko …

24-07-2025 NEW YORK: The Israelis certainly owe Bret Stephens a favor. Yesterday, The New York Times opinion columnist took to the pages of the United States newspaper of record to promote his latest deranged argument, headlined: “No, Israel Is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza”. Never mind that numerous global institutions, …

24-07-2025 BEIJING/ NEW DELHI/ HONG KONG: India will resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens from July 24 this year, its embassy in China said on Wednesday, the first time in five years as both countries move to repair their rocky relationship. Tensions between the two countries escalated following a …

24-07-2025 GAZA STRIP: At least 10 Palestinians have died of forced starvation in the past 24 hours in Gaza, bringing the death toll from hunger to 111, including at least 80 children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza as 109 aid groups call for action …

24-07-2025 Warning: This story contains descriptions of violence DAMASCUS/ SUWEIDA: Syrian government forces have been accused of carrying out a massacre at a hospital during sectarian clashes which erupted just over a week ago. The media has visited Suweida’s National Hospital, where staff claim patients were killed inside wards. The …

24-07-2025 WASHINGTON/ TOKYO: President Donald Trump says the US has agreed to a “massive” trade deal with Japan, one of the country’s largest trading partners. Japan has agreed to invest $550bn (£407bn) in the US while its goods sold to America would be taxed at 15% when they reach the …

24-07-2025 VIENNA: When John Warmington first began diving the reefs outside his home in Vanuatu’s Havannah Harbour 10 years ago, the coral rose like a sunken forest – tall stands of staghorns branched into yellow antlers, plate corals layered like canopies, and clouds of darting fish wove through the labyrinth. …