International

11-02-2023 WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden, under fire from some lawmakers, said on Thursday he did not view a Chinese spy balloon that transited the United States before it was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean to have been a major security breach. Biden, who has sought to maintain communications with …

11-02-2023 JAKARTA: When Netflix announced the exclusive production of seven Indonesian films and series in September 2022, few expected overnight success but by the end of the year, the Big Four by Timo Tjahjanto, the first film in the series, had become one of the video-on-demand giant’s most-watched films not …

11-02-2023 TOKYO/ MANILA: The leaders of Japan and the Philippines have agreed to increase defence ties, allowing Japanese troops greater access to Philippine territory. The defence arrangement signed by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday will allow Japanese troops to join training exercises …

11-02-2023 ISTANBUL: Thousands of people have offered to adopt the baby girl who was born under the rubble of a collapsed building in north-west Syria, following Monday’s earthquake. When she was rescued, baby Aya, meaning miracle in Arabic was still connected to her mother by her umbilical cord. Her mother, …

11-02-2023 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD: Pakistan says it has agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on conditions to release about $1.1bn in financial aid critical to escape an economic collapse. As an IMF team left cash-strapped Pakistan on Friday after 10 days of talks with the …

11-02-2023 PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is considering stripping Vladimir Putin of France’s top honor. The Russian leader was presented with the Legion d’Honneur in 2006 by former French President Jacques Chirac. The title is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, and was …

11-02-2023 HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA” Elon Musk’s SpaceX Company has performed a key test on its huge new rocket system, Starship. Engineers conducted what’s called a “static fire”, simultaneously igniting 31 out of 33 of the engines at the base of the vehicle’s lower-segment. The firing lasted only a few seconds, with …

11-02-2023 WASHINGTON: A man suspected of attacking a congresswoman in the lift of her Washington DC apartment building on Thursday has been arrested, police say. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, fought back by throwing hot coffee at the assailant, a police report says. Kendrick Hamlin is accused of punching her …

10-02-2023 Bureau Report SAN FRANCISCO/ NEW DELHI: Among the most bizarre decisions made by the Modi-led Indian government, the most recent one takes the cake as it leaves Twitterati in fits of laughter. The microblogging site has been flooded with the most hilarious memes after the Animal Welfare Board in …

10-02-2023 WELLINGTON/ JAKARTA: A New Zealand pilot has been taken hostage by separatist fighters in Indonesia’s Papua region. Philip Mehrtens, 37, was taken after his plane carrying five passengers was attacked after it landed in the remote mountainous province of Nduga. His abductors, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), …