International

21-01-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ LONDON: India’s foreign ministry has dismissed as “propaganda” a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that questions his leadership during the deadly 2002 Gujarat riots. Modi was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat when it was gripped by communal riots that …

21-01-2023 LONDON: What is a Woman? Wasn’t this question already settled? Didn’t the fight for women’s equality end with protections being enshrined in law, in the case of the UK, in the 2010 Equality Act that covers women’s sex-based protections? Apparently not. This week, the UK has witnessed an explosion …

21-01-2023 NEW YORK: Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is looking into the possibility of reviving its business, Chief Executive Officer John Ray told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Ray, who took the reins in November, has set up a task force to explore restarting FTX.com, the company’s main international exchange, …

21-01-2023 JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia in talks with visiting White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, his office said. Netanyahu, who returned to office last month with the formation of a new government, was at the helm in 2020 when …

21-01-2023 TOKYO: Japan’s inflation rate has jumped to a fresh 41-year high as businesses pass on higher costs to their customers. Core consumer prices for last month rose by 4% from a year earlier, double the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) target level. It puts further pressure on the central bank …

21-01-2023 BEIRUT: Two politicians have spent the night inside Lebanon’s parliament building in protest at MPs’ failure to elect a new president for the 11th time. Najat Saliba and Melhem Khalaf refused to leave the chamber after the latest round of voting, spending the night inside the darkened building. The …

21-01-2023 NEW YORK: Google’s parent company Alphabet will cut 12,000 jobs, in the latest staff redundancies to hit the tech industry. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said he took “full responsibility” for the cuts, in an internal email. The cuts will affect 6% of Alphabet’s workforce worldwide, in teams …

21-01-2023 RIYADH/ JERUSALEM: Saudi Arabia will not normalize ties with Israel in the absence of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, the kingdom’s top diplomat has said, according to a tweet by the foreign ministry on Friday. The comments by Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on the sidelines of …

21-01-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: Days after Pakistan offered to hold talks with archrival India, New Delhi says the atmosphere for dialogue is not conducive yet. “India’s position has remained clear and consistent. We desire normal neighborly relations with Pakistan in a conducive atmosphere that is free of terror, …

21-01-2023 WASHINGTON: Anti-abortion rights activists in the United States are marching in the capital to celebrate the fall of Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that had guaranteed access to the procedure for decades across the US. The annual “March for Life” will begin about noon on Friday …