International

04-12-2025 TOKYO: It is not, perhaps, a word many people in Japan will want to hear as they prepare for the bonenkai office party season and some well-earned time off over the new year but the promise made by Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, that she would “work, work, …

04-12-2025 WASHINGTON: Progressive United States Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has hit back against Donald Trump after the president criticized her and renewed his attacks on the Somali community in Minnesota. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump embarked on a racist tirade, describing Omar and other Somali immigrants as “garbage” and …

04-12-2025 BEIRUT: Pope Leo bade farewell to Lebanon on Tuesday with a fervent appeal to leaders across the Middle East to listen to their people’s cries for peace and to change course away from the “horror of war”. The first US pope wrapped up his first overseas trip as Catholic …

04-12-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Apple, opens new tab does not plan to comply with a mandate to preload its smartphones with a state-owned cyber safety app and will convey its concerns to New Delhi, three sources said, after the government’s move sparked surveillance concerns and a political uproar. The …

04-12-2025 United States President Donald Trump has lashed out as Honduras announced that it is to conduct a manual count of votes cast in the November 30 presidential election. The National Electoral Council (CNE) called for “patience” on Tuesday as it launched the count. Earlier, it had announced that a …

04-12-2025 KHARTOUM: The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has refuted a claim by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that it has seized control of the West Kordofan town of Babnusa. Sudan’s military government said in a statement issued on Tuesday that it had repelled an attack by the RSF. The …

04-12-2025 UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations is set to implement deep budgetary and staff reductions in 2026, as unpaid dues from member nations soar to a staggering $1.59 trillion, according to an announcement by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Presenting the organization’s financial plan for the upcoming year, Guterres stated that the …

03-12-2025 SYDNEY: Activists have blocked two more coal ships from entering the Port of Newcastle on the fourth day of the Rising Tide protest, bringing the total number of ships turned around by campaigners this weekend to three. Thousands of people have gathered at Rising Tide’s annual climate protest at …

03-12-2025 TALLAHASSEE: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says talks with Ukraine over a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war were productive, but there’s “more work to be done”. The talks, held in Florida, were attended by a Ukrainian delegation led by national Security Council secretary Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s new …

03-12-2025 JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the country’s president on Sunday for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, arguing that criminal proceedings were hindering his ability to govern and a pardon would be good for Israel. Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, denies the bribery, fraud, and …