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26-02-2025 CAIRO/ GAZA CITY: Hamas says talks with Israel about further steps in the Gaza ceasefire deal are conditional on Palestinian prisoners being freed as agreed. Israel said on Sunday it was delaying the release of more than 600 Palestinians in return for six living and four dead hostages who …

25-02-2025 KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces signed a charter with allied political and armed groups late on Saturday to establish a “government of peace and unity”, signatories al-Hadi Idris and Ibrahim al-Mirghani told media. Among the signatories to the charter is Abdelaziz al-Hilu, a powerful rebel leader who controls vast …

25-02-2025 WASHINGTON: Multiple US agencies have told employees not to respond immediately to a demand by President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk to list their accomplishments in the past week or be fired, as a chaotic campaign to cull the federal workforce pushes forward. Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI …

25-02-2025 NEW DELHI: Indian authorities have banned two highly-addictive opioids in response to a BBC investigation which found they were fueling a public health crisis in parts of West Africa. In a letter seen by the BBC from India’s Drugs Controller General, Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi said permission to manufacture …

25-02-2025 VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis remains in a “critical” condition but “has not presented any further respiratory crises”, the Vatican said in a statement on Sunday. He was still receiving high-flow oxygen therapy and had undergone blood transfusions. Blood tests also showed he had “initial, mild, renal insufficiency”, a kidney …

25-02-2025 KYIV: Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to “give up” his presidency in exchange for peace ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that. And I also can exchange it for …

25-02-2025 BERLIN: Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is set to return to power with the far-right Alternative for Germany as second-largest party, exit polls show, after snap elections dominated by concerns over immigration, the economy and the return of Donald Trump. The CDU’s party headquarters were filled with cheers …

25-02-2025 JERUSALEM/ GAZA/ CAIRO: As the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is meant to be drawing to an end, it has once again been put in doubt. After the last six living Israel hostages due to be released in this phase were freed, more …

24-02-2025 SYDNEY: Australia’s Labor government on Saturday promised an extra AU$8.5 billion ($5.4 billion) for the country’s universal healthcare system if re-elected at a national election due by May, amid sagging popularity for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Centre-left Labor traditionally sees its protection of Australia’s cherished Medicare universal healthcare scheme …

24-02-2025 WASHINGTON: The Trump administration sent emails on Saturday evening to US federal government employees telling them to detail their work accomplishments from the previous week by Monday night or risk losing their jobs. The emails came shortly after Elon Musk, the billionaire head of the Trump administration’s Department of …