07-01-2023 Bureau Report MELBOURNE/ ADELAIDE: Novak Djokovic received a positive welcome back to Australia as he made a rare doubles appearances at the Adelaide International. The Serb was deported prior to the 2022 Australian Open because of his Covid-19 vaccination status. Djokovic’s three-year visa ban was overturned in November, allowing …
Read More »UN Security Council stresses Al Aqsa status quo
07-01-2023 UNITED NATIONS: United Nation’s Security Council members voiced concern and stressed the need to maintain the status quo at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, but did not commit to any action days after Israel’s new far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made a controversial visit to the site, …
Read More »Panic in Indian town over large cracks in homes
07-01-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: Residents of Joshimath town in Uttarakhand state are demanding evacuation and rehabilitation after large cracks appeared in their homes. On Thursday, officials stopped several construction projects after thousands of protesters blocked a national highway in the Himalayan state. The state’s chief minister is …
Read More »N Korea’s Kim reveals daughter in hint at extending family rule
07-01-2023 PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s presentation of his young daughter at recent public events is likely an attempt to show his people that one of his children will one day inherit the leadership in what would be the third power transfer to a Kim family member in …
Read More »US warship transits through Taiwan Strait: China
07-01-2023 BEIJING: An US Navy warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Thursday, irking China, which claims the waters as its territory. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon carried out the passage, a statement from the US Navy said, calling it a routine activity. USS Chung-Hoon “conducted a routine …
Read More »Mexico captures son of ‘El Chapo’ sparking wave of violence
07-01-2023 MEXICO CITY: Mexican security forces captured on Thursday drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, triggering a wave of violence ahead of a visit by US President Joe Biden next week. The violence took place largely in the city of Culiacan in …
Read More »California evacuations ordered for brutal storm
06-01-2023 CALIFORNIA: Evacuation orders and advisories are in place in parts of northern California as a major storm slams into the coast. Regions that have been hit by wildfires in the past were among the first places to be told to evacuate due to concerns about flooding and landslides. California’s …
Read More »Morocco links Israel embassy to W Sahara recognition
06-01-2023 RABAT: Morocco has demanded that Israel recognize its sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara before Rabat opens an embassy in Tel Aviv, the news outlet Axios has reported, citing four current and former Israeli officials involved in the matter. For decades, Morocco has been involved in a …
Read More »Charlie Hebdo draws Iran’s ire for publishing Khamenei cartoons
06-01-2023 TEHRAN: Iran warned France on Wednesday it would respond after “insulting” cartoons depicting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The weekly had published dozens of cartoons on the same day ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic republic. …
Read More »Dozens of Christian graves vandalized in Jerusalem
06-01-2023 JERUSALEM: A Jerusalem bishop said Wednesday he was “dismayed” by the desecration of dozens of Christian graves on the edge of the Old City, as police probed the vandalism. Stone graves lay in pieces with crosses toppled at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion, where Christians believe Jesus’s Last …
Read More »