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12-05-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: In the lead-up to India’s general election, Narendra Modi was expected to frame it as a referendum on his decade as prime minister. He was expected to boast about achievements like generous welfare programs and spaceflights. He was to reaffirm that the new …

12-05-2024 UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly has enhanced Palestine’s rights within the organization and called for it to be accepted as a member. Palestine has had non-member observer state status since 2012, which allows some rights short of a full member. Membership can only be decided upon by …

12-05-2024 KABUL: The UN said the death toll due to floods caused by heavy seasonal rains has crossed 200. Flash floods that have ripped through northern Afghanistan left more than 200 people dead in a single province, the United Nations said on Saturday. More than 200 people were killed and …

12-05-2024 WASHINGTON: The Biden administration believes that Israel has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians in Gaza but has not found specific instances that would justify the withholding of military aid, the State Department told Congress on Friday. In the administration’s most detailed assessment of Israel’s …

11-05-2024 TEHRAN: Iranians are voting in a run-off for the remaining seats in Parliament after conservative candidates dominated the elections in March. Shortly after polling stations opened on Friday, state TV showed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casting his vote. Khamenei, who has the final say in important matters of …

11-05-2024 MANILA: The Philippines’ national security adviser called on Friday for Chinese diplomats to be expelled over an alleged leak of a phone conversation with a Filipino admiral in a significant escalation of a bitter row over the South China Sea. China’s embassy in Manila had orchestrated “repeated acts of …

11-05-2024 ABUJA: Nigeria’s Senate on Thursday proposed significantly toughening penalties for drug trafficking, making the death penalty the new maximum sentence through a law amendment. The amendment, which is not yet law, replaces life imprisonment, which was previously the harshest punishment. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of more than 200 …

11-05-2024 JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel can “stand alone”, after the US warned arms shipments could be stopped if he orders a full-scale invasion of Rafah in Gaza. Thousands of people have already fled the southern city after the Israeli military began what it …

11-05-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India’s top court has granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, more than a month after he was arrested in a corruption case. The court said that the bail is applicable until 1 June after which he must surrender to authorities …

11-05-2024 JERUSALEM: Israel says it has raided a studio being used by Al Jazeera in Nazareth, in the latest clash between the country and broadcaster. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi linked the media company to Hamas and said equipment was being confiscated in the northern Israeli city on Thursday morning. Al …