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30-01-2026 BEIJING/ LONDON: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in China for a three-day visit, the first by a British prime minister in eight years. Sir Keir is seeking to strengthen trading and cultural ties between the two nations after years of acrimony but he has faced criticism from …

30-01-2026 SEATTLE. WASHINGTON: Technology giant Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs, hours after it told staff about a new round of global redundancies in an email apparently sent in error. The email, which has been seen by media, was sent late on Tuesday and refers to a swathe …

30-01-2026 ABUJA/ ISTANBUL: Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is “in great shape” despite falling over at a reception ceremony in Turkey, one of his aides said. Tinubu, 73, was being welcomed by his Turkish counterpart at an official ceremony in the capital, Ankara, when he stumbled. After walking past a line …

30-01-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister has led tributes to Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state, who has been killed in a plane crash in the west of the country. Pawar and four others died after the chartered plane they were travelling in crashed at the …

30-01-2026 NAIROBI: Oxfam says it will not disclose the personal details of its Palestinian staff to Israel, citing its army’s deadly attacks in Gaza that have killed hundreds of aid workers. As part of a crackdown on NGOs providing life-saving aid to Palestinians, Israel last year demanded that some of …

29-01-2026 TOKYO: A Tokyo court has asked Pyongyang to pay 88 million Japanese yen ($570,000; £416,000) to four people who were lured to North Korea decades ago by a propaganda scheme. The plaintiffs said the North was marketed to them as “paradise on Earth”, but they instead found themselves subject …

29-01-2026 MELBOURNE/ SYDNEY: Firefighters in the Australian state of Victoria are battling at least six major fires as a record-breaking heatwave hits the country’s south-east. Two fires are currently burning at “emergency level” according to local broadcaster ABC News. Several communities have been issued emergency warnings to either evacuate, watch …

29-01-2026 WASHINGTON: A top US immigration official is expected to leave the US city of Minneapolis in what may mark a shift in the White House’s tone after the fatal shooting of a second US citizen by federal officers over the weekend. As Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and some …

29-01-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India and the European Union have agreed on a huge trade deal creating a free trade zone of two ‌billion people, European Commission President Ursula ‍von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have said. In a post on social media during her visit …

29-01-2026 ZURICH/ WASHINGTON: Former FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter has backed a proposed fan boycott of World Cup 2026 matches in the United States because of the conduct of President Donald Trump and his administration at home and abroad. Blatter is the latest international football figure to call into question the …