International

15-12-2024 PARIS: Centrist leader François Bayrou has become France’s latest prime minister, chosen by President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to end months of political turmoil. Bayrou, a 73-year-old mayor from the south-west who leads the MoDem party, said he was fully aware of the “Himalayan” task facing France, and …

15-12-2024 TBILISI: A former Manchester City footballer is set be appointed president on Saturday by Georgia’s disputed parliament, after 16 days of pro-EU protests that have swept this country’s towns and cities. Mikheil Kavelashvili, now 53, is a former MP from the increasingly authoritarian ruling Georgian Dream party and the …

15-12-2024 BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend the US presidential inauguration in January despite an invitation from Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the planning. China’s ambassador to the US is expected to attend and other officials from Beijing may also join him, the …

14-12-2024 WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday released a long-awaited strategy for countering anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate, up sharply since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, calling for urgent, continued work to reduce discrimination and bias. The 64-page document comes weeks before the inauguration of former President Donald Trump, …

14-12-2024 GAZA STRIP: An Israeli strike killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 50 others who were sheltering in a post office in central Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll on Thursday in the enclave to 66. With no sign of let-up in the 14-month-old conflict, the strike hit a …

14-12-2024 DHAKA: Krishna Das had never imagined that his peaceful life in Sunamganj, a northeastern district of Bangladesh, would come crashing down on a seemingly ordinary Tuesday evening last week. The trigger was an allegation of blasphemy. A young Hindu man, Akash Das, had allegedly posted an insulting comment about …

14-12-2024 WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met Jordan’s King Abdullah as President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration pushes for an inclusive transition in neighboring Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. The top US diplomat is in the region to seek support and establish a unified approach for …

14-12-2024 BRUSSELS: The head of NATO has said it is time to “shift to a wartime mindset”, as he warned the military alliances’ members were not spending enough to prepare for the threat of a future conflict with Russia. Secretary general Mark Rutte said Moscow was “preparing for long-term confrontation …

14-12-2024 DAMASCUS: On a painted wall outside Damarcus’s Mustahed Hospital are photographs of the faces of dead men. A constantly changing crowd of people examine them, squinting against the low winter sun at men who look as if they died in great pain. Noses, mouths and eye sockets are twisted, …

14-12-2024 SINGAPORE: Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest-ever world chess champion after beating defending champion China’s Ding Liren in a dramatic turn on Thursday. Dommaraju, 18, is four years younger than the former record-holder, Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he won the title in 1985. …