International

02-07-2024 CAIRO/ GAZA CITY: Palestinian detainees are tortured “day and night” in Israel’s prisons, the director of al-Shifa Hospital Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya tells media after his release from eight months’ detention. Israeli tanks advance on the Gaza City district of Shujayea, trapping civilians during intense fighting. Exclusive footage obtained …

02-07-2024 PRETORIA: South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a new coalition government, after his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party lost its parliamentary majority in May’s elections. He said “the government of national unity… is unprecedented in the history of our democracy”. The ANC will have 20 out of …

02-07-2024 PARIS: France’s far right is in pole position after the first round of parliamentary elections that confirmed their dominance in French politics and brought them to the gates of power. Supporters of Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally (RN) cheered as she said the president’s “Macronist bloc has been …

02-0702024 BEIJING: A commercial Chinese rocket accidentally launched during a ground test on Sunday, climbing into the air before crashing into a nearby mountain and exploding in flames, the private company that owns the rocket said. Because of a “structural failure,” the Tianlong-3 rocket separated from its testing platform while …

01-07-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: New Delhi on Friday rejected the US State Department’s 2023 religious freedom report on India, calling it “deeply biased” and one that does not understand the South Asian nation’s social fabric. The report, released on Wednesday, noted violent attacks on minority groups, especially …

01-07-2024 SYDNEY: Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Sunday he was confident cuts to income taxes from Monday would not exacerbate price rises, as the nation suffers a cost-of-living squeeze amid stubbornly high rates of inflation. The consumer inflation rate reached a six-month high of 4.0% in May, adding to …

01-07-2024 CAIRO/ GAZA CITY: Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters continued in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighborhood as the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned of increasingly “desperate” conditions for displaced civilians amid soaring temperatures and the pile up of rubbish and sewage. A senior Hamas official said …

01-07-2024 BAGHDAD: Five large bombs were discovered hidden in the walls of the historic al-Nuri Mosque in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, a remnant of the armed group ISIL’s (ISIS’s) rule over the region. The mosque famous for its 12th-century leaning minaret was destroyed by ISIL in 2017 …

01-07-2024 TEHRAN: Iran is set to hold a run-off presidential election on July 5 after none of the candidates managed to secure more than 50% of the votes amid historic low turnout on Friday. “None of the candidates could garner the absolute majority of the votes, therefore, the first and …

01-07-2024 NEW JERSEY: US President Joe Biden has assured Democrat donors that he can still win the presidential election against Donald Trump, after a poor debate performance fueled concern about his candidacy. The president, 81, attended a series of fundraising events in New York and New Jersey on Saturday, and …