07-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: When the world’s last reigning queen announced her abdication, history was also made in a country far, far away. “I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik,” Queen Margrethe II of Denmark said. Her decision to make way for …
Read More »US, Europe embark on new diplomatic push to quell Gaza war
07-01-2024 CAIRO/ GAZA/ JERUSALEM: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Europe’s senior diplomat Josep Borrell began a new diplomatic push on Friday to stop spillover from the Gaza war into Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Red Sea shipping lanes. Their Middle East visits came three months since Hamas militants …
Read More »Iraq prepares to close down US-led coalition’s mission: PM
07-01-2024 BAGHDAD/ WASHINGTON: The Iraqi government is beginning the process to remove the US-led international military coalition from the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office said on Friday. The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says advises and assists local forces …
Read More »Indian Navy rescues bulk carrier crew after hijack attempt
07-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy yesterday rescued the crew of a merchant vessel after its attempted hijack in the Arabian Sea and said it had not found any pirates on board. An Indian Navy warship intercepted the Liberian-flagged MV Lila Norfolk bulk carrier less than …
Read More »Iran arrests 11 suspects over bomb blasts
07-01-2024 TEHRAN: Iranian authorities said on Friday that security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in two bomb blasts that killed nearly 100 people at a memorial service for a slain military commander. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kerman, southeastern Iran, …
Read More »Colombia cites advances in peace talks with FARC dissidents
07-01-2024 BOGOTA: Peace talks between Colombia’s government and the largest FARC dissident group managed to get the rebels to suspend kidnappings, free 10 hostages, and reduce clashes with the country’s military in under three months, a government negotiator said on Friday. The government of leftist President Gustavo Petro wants to …
Read More »US again fails to designate India as country of ‘particular concern’
06-01-2024 WASHINGTON: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for a congressional hearing after expressing disappointment over the US Department of State’s continuous failure to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC)”. The commission stated this in response to the State Department’s list of …
Read More »Recruitment of US girls detailed in second document batch
06-01-2024 NEW YORK: A second batch of court papers linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein show how dozens of girls were recruited at his beachfront mansion. A Florida detective says in testimony that 30 women had spoken to him about “performing massage and work” there. Some were paid to bring …
Read More »India likely to report higher GDP growth estimates for 2023/24
06-01-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India is likely to project higher economic growth estimates of around 7% for the 2023/24 fiscal year ending in March, compared with earlier government forecasts when the National Statistical Office releases its first advance GDP estimates on Friday. An increased estimate of annual …
Read More »Slain Hamas leader buried in Palestinian camp in Beirut
06-01-2024 BEIRUT: The slain deputy chief of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, was buried in the Palestinian camp of Shatila in Beirut on Thursday, amid throngs of mourners launching volleys of gunfire. Arouri was killed in a drone strike on Tuesday on the southern suburb of Beirut, a stronghold of allied Lebanese …
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