30-11-2023 CANBERRA/ SYDNEY: Australia’s prime minister has given a national apology to survivors of the thalidomide scandal and their families. It comes over 60 years after the morning sickness drug started causing birth defects in babies globally. “This apology takes in one of the darkest chapters in Australia’s medical history,” …
Read More »Group stages ‘die-ins’ across US to raise awareness for Gaza
30-11-2023 WASHINGTON: Julia Fawzi Saeed Al-Kurd was one year old. She was killed along with several members of her family in an Israeli air raid on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on October 11. Her name appeared in local reports on the day of the bombing and later on a …
Read More »Saudi Arabia selected to host World Expo in 2030
30-11-2023 RIYADH: The Expo 2030 world’s fair will be held in Riyadh in another hosting victory for a Gulf country after Qatar put on football’s World Cup last year. South Korea’s Busan and Italy’s Rome were also in the running to host the world’s fair, a once-every-five-year event that attracts …
Read More »‘Israel-Hamas truce is extended permanently’
30-11-2023 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report DOHA/ GAZA CITY/ JERUSALEM/ QUETTA: The Heads of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad have met in Qatar to discuss the extension of a truce between Israel and Hamas as well as the captives being held by the Palestinian group …
Read More »All 41 workers rescued from Indian tunnel after 17 days
29-11-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ All 41 construction workers who were trapped in a collapsed mountain tunnel for 17 days in northern India have been brought to safety, hours after rescue crew drilled through the debris of rock, concrete and mud to reach them. Following days of multiple …
Read More »Toxic gas putting millions at risk in Middle East: BBC
29-11-2023 DUBAI: Toxic pollutants released during gas flaring are endangering millions more people than previously feared, a BBC investigation suggests. Flaring, the burning of waste gas during oil drilling is taking place across the Gulf, including by COP28 hosts the United Arab Emirates. New research suggests pollution is spreading hundreds …
Read More »Israel & Hamas agree to free more hostages & prisoners
29-11-2023 JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend their cease-fire until Wednesday, raising the prospect of further exchanges of militant-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and a longer halt to their deadliest and most destructive war. Eleven Israeli women and children freed by Hamas entered Israel …
Read More »Niger junta repeals law aimed at slowing migration to Europe
29-11-2023 ABUJA: Niger’s military government has revoked an anti-migration law that had helped reduce the flow of West Africans to Europe but which was reviled by desert dwellers whose economies had long relied on the traffic, it said on Monday. The law, which made it illegal to transport migrants through …
Read More »Israeli hostage thanks Hamas for making daughter ‘like a queen’
29-11-2023 JERUSALEM: In a letter to Hamas fighters, an Israeli mother, Danielle Aloni conveyed her sincere gratitude for their treatment of her five-year-old daughter Emilia during the 49-day captivity in besieged Gaza. As part of a temporary truce agreement between the Palestinian resistance group and Israel, the two were freed …
Read More »Russian court extends detention of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich
29-11-2023 MOSCOW: Russia will keep American reporter Evan Gershkovich in custody for another two months as he awaits trial for espionage, a Moscow court has ruled, heightening concerns about the fate of the jailed journalist. In a closed-door hearing on Tuesday, the Moscow court extended Gershkovich’s detention until January 30, …
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