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08-12-2024 DAMASCUS: Rebel forces in southern Syria have reportedly captured most of the Deraa region – the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. A UK-based war monitor reports that the “local factions” were able to take control of many military sites there following “violent battles” with government …

08-12-2024 SANTO DOMINGO: Authorities in the Dominican Republican say cocaine discovered in the country’s largest-ever seizure was headed to Europe. Hidden in a banana shipment, officials found 9,500kg of the drug at a port in the capital, Santo Domingo. The cocaine was hidden in 320 bags with an estimated street …

08-12-2024 SEOUL: South Korean lawmakers on Saturday began meeting to vote on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, as protests grew nationwide calling for his removal. They gathered in the National Assembly hours after Yoon issued a public apology over the …

07-12-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India-Bangladesh ties have been frosty since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India after her removal in a student-led mass uprising in August, but diplomatic tensions have soared in recent days after the two South Asian neighbours traded accusations of alleged ill-treatment …

07-12-2024 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India may ease monetary conditions on Friday by reducing banks’ cash reserve ratios after economic growth slowed to a seven-quarter low, but inflationary pressures may make it reluctant to cut interest rates just yet, analysts said. The six-member monetary policy committee …

07-12-2024 WASHINGTON: Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy met on Thursday with Republican lawmakers whose support they will need to win the sweeping spending cuts that President-elect Donald Trump has asked them to find. Trump has named two entrepreneurs to a task force that aims for a …

07-12-2024 KABUL: Afghanistan’s top cricket stars Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have urged the Taliban to reconsider their ban on women’s access to medical education and training, terming the move “deeply unjust”. “Education holds a central place in Islamic teachings, emphasizing the pursuit of knowledge for both men and women,” …

07-12-2024 PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron says he will stay on “until the end” of his five-year term, until May 2027, after a no-confidence vote in parliament toppled the government. Speaking to the nation in a televised address on Thursday, Macron said he would name a new prime minister in …

07-12-2024 GAZA STRIP/ BEIRUT: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that bitterly cold weather in Gaza is making conditions harder for forcibly displaced families “struggling to survive” in makeshift shelters without warm clothes or blankets. As dozens are reported killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, reporters on the ground says …

07-12-2024 VIRGINIA: A Boeing plea deal intended to resolve a case related to two fatal crashes of its planes has been rejected by a US judge. The plane maker agreed with the US government in July to plead guilty to one count of criminal fraud, face independent monitoring, and pay …