04-05-2025 TUNIS: A court in Tunisia has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on a raft of terrorism charges. He is the latest high-profile critic of the president to be jailed as campaigners slam “sham trials” in the country. The 69-year-old is a prominent opponent …
Read More »Australians vote in election shaped by housing concerns
03-05-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies CANBERRA: It’s Election Day in Australia where 18 million voters will determine who the next prime minister will be. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the left-leaning Australian Labor Party is seeking re-election and his challenger is Peter Dutton of the conservative Liberal-National coalition. Cost of …
Read More »‘Minerals deal will strengthen Trump in talks with Russia’
03-05-2025 KYIV/ WASHINGTON: Kyiv and Washington on Thursday hailed a deal giving the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals as a milestone that a top US official said would strengthen President Donald Trump’s negotiating position with Russia. The Kremlin was silent on Wednesday’s agreement, but former Russian President …
Read More »Pakistani Kashmir closes seminaries fearing Indian military strikes
03-05-2025 ISLAMABAD/ MUZAFFARABAD: The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir has closed all religious seminaries in the region for 10 days, officials said yesterday, citing fears they would be targeted by Indian strikes following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir. Islamabad says it has credible intelligence that India intends to …
Read More »Next round of Iran-US nuclear talks postponed
03-05-2025 MUSCAT: A fourth round of Iran-US talks over Tehran’s nuclear program has been postponed. Iran said the two countries, along with facilitators Oman, had jointly decided to postpone Saturday’s meeting in Rome for “logistical and technical reasons”. The US said the timing of the talks had not been confirmed …
Read More »Israel fires largely controlled after mass evacuations
03-05-2025 GAZA STRIP: Fires that have ravaged large parts of central Israel since Wednesday have largely been extinguished, the country’s Fire and Rescue Authority says. More than 150 teams have been battling the blaze, which has scorched around 20 sq km (7.7 sq miles) of land in the Latrun area …
Read More »Tracking a smuggler behind deadly Atlantic migrant crossing
03-05-2025 LONDON/ BERLIN: In January a migrant boat was rescued off the North African coast after 14 harrowing days lost at sea. Some 50 people died on the voyage, many of whom were lied to by people smugglers promising safe and legal routes to Europe. BBC Verify has tracked one …
Read More »Apple braces for $900m blow from Trump tariffs
03-05-2025 NEW YORK: Tariffs on goods coming into the US will add nearly a billion dollars to Apple’s costs, the tech giant said, despite President Donald Trump’s decision to spare key electronics from the new import taxes. The estimate from the iPhone maker comes as firms are scrambling to respond …
Read More »Deadly clashes in Syria raise fears of widening unrest
03-05-2025 DAMASCUS: Deadly clashes between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters from the Druze religious minority near Damascus are another sign of the continuing fragility of the security situation in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Outside players have once again been involved, with Israel saying it carried …
Read More »Venezuelan detainees spell out SOS with their bodies
02-05-2025 HOUSTON: Detainees at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center in the small city of Anson, Texas, sent the outside world a message this week; SOS. With a Reuters drone flying nearby, 31 men formed the letters in the dirt yard of the facility on Monday. Ten days earlier, dozens of …
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