International

28-01-2023 ABUJA: Nigeria’s central bank has launched a domestic card scheme to rival foreign cards like Master-card and Visa, hoping to enhance its drive to make Africa’s biggest economy a cashless society and save the country foreign transaction fees. The announcement on Thursday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) …

28-01-2023 QAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital, Cairo, containing what may be the oldest and “most complete” mummy yet to be discovered in the country. The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre (49-foot) shaft in a recently uncovered group of tombs …

28-01-2023 TEHRAN: A guard has been killed in an attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Iran, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says, adding that it will evacuate its diplomatic staff. “The attacker broke through the guard post, killing the head of security with a Kalashnikov assault rifle,” it said. Friday’s …

28-01-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Ashok Sharma has devoted his life to championing the deeds of an Indian “patriot”: not revered independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, but the man who shot him dead. Sharma is the custodian of a temple dedicated to Nathuram Godse, who on January 30, 1948, gunned down …

28-01-2023 KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned “in the strongest terms” the desecration of the Quran by a far-right activist in the Netherlands as demonstrators gathered outside the Swedish and Dutch embassies in Kuala Lumpur to protest the recent destruction of the Quran in both countries. Friday’s …

28-01-2023 WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel next week to Israel, the West Bank and Egypt where he will urge an end to violence after a deadly Israeli raid, the State Department said on Thursday. Blinken will hold his first in-person talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …

28-01-2023 WASHINGTON: A truck-sized asteroid will pass near Earth on Thursday in one of the closest approaches to our planet ever recorded, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said, emphasizing that it poses no danger. Asteroid 2023 BU, which was recently discovered by an amateur astronomer, will zoom by …

28-01-2023 OTTAWA/ MONTREAL: Canada on Thursday appointed its first special representative on combatting Islamophobia, a position created following several recent attacks on Muslims in the country. Journalist and activist Amira Elghawaby will fill the post to “serve as a champion, adviser, expert and representative to support and enhance the federal …

27-01-2023 SAN FRANCISCO: Social networking giant Meta announced Tuesday it would soon reinstate former president Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram with “new guardrails,” two years after he was banned over the 2021 US Capitol insurrection. “We will be reinstating Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks,” …

27-01-2023 WASHINGTON/BERLIN/KYIV: Ukraine declared an air raid alert over the whole country early on Thursday and senior officials said air defences units were shooting down incoming Russian missiles, while fighting also intensified in Bakhmut in the east. The attacks come after the United States and Germany announced plans to arm …