International

01-01-2023 KYIV, UKRAINE: Numerous explosions have rocked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day. The attacks on Kyiv on Sunday followed a barrage of at least 20 cruise missiles fired at targets across Ukraine in what officials there called “Terror on New Year’s Eve”. The new …

01-01-2023 WASHINGTON: Barbara Walters, one of the most visible women on US television as the first female anchor on an American network evening news broadcast and one of TV’s most prominent interviewers, died on Friday at age 93, her longtime ABC News home said. Walters, who created the popular ABC …

01-01-2023 PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for an “exponential” increase in the production of nuclear warheads and ordered the development of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to counter the United States and South Korea. Kim’s statement was released on state media on Sunday, hours after …

01-01-2023 VATICAN CITY/ LONDON/ PARIS/ NEW YORK: World leaders are mourning the passing of former Pope Benedict XVI, praising his “devotion to the Church”. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Saturday morning in the Mater Ecclesia Monastery in the Vatican. Benedict was the first pope in 600 years to resign …

01-01-2023 RAMALLAH/ GAZA: The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to give an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. The General Assembly voted 87 to 26 with 53 abstentions on the resolution, with Western …

01-01-2023 WELLINGTON/ MELBOURNE/ LONDON/ PARIS/ NEWYORK: New Year celebrations are in full flow in many parts of the world where 2023 has already arrived. The Pacific nation of Kiribati was the first to welcome in the New Year, followed by New Zealand an hour later – and thousands gathered in …

31-12-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ TASHKENT: India has suspended production at a pharmaceutical company based near New Delhi whose cough syrup was linked to the death of 19 children in Uzbekistan, India’s health minister said on Friday. Uzbekistan said this week that at least 18 children had died …

31-12-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies LONDON/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: A former Afghan woman MP who fled to Britain after the Taliban takeover in 2021 on Thursday called on the world to hold the Taliban accountable for its attempt to erase women from public life. Fawzia Koofi, a former vice-president of the …

31-12-2022 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: The Australian Attorney-General’s Department has approved a request to extradite a former US Marine Corps fighter pilot to the United States where he faces charges of breaking US arms control laws by engaging in the training of Chinese pilots. Arrested in Australia in October, Daniel …

31-12-2022 WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has said he looks forward to working with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, ignoring concerns about the inclusion of far-right Israeli politicians accused of racism in the new cabinet. Biden called Netanyahu his “friend for decades” in a statement on Thursday, saying that …