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12-02-2025 PORT LOUIS: Slam poet Geraldine Baptiste pulls no punches when telling the story of her “Granpapa”, one of the 1,500-plus people ripped from a peaceful existence on the Chagos Islands by the British to make way for a United States military base, most shipped “kouma zanimo” (meaning “like animals” …

12-02-2025 WASHINGTON: When a prominent Saudi Trans woman posted her suicide note on X, her friends and followers were devastated. The note, viewed by millions, said a lawyer in the US where she had been trying to claim asylum had persuaded her into returning home to a family and country …

12-02-2025 CAIRO/ TEL AVIV: Hamas has brushed off President Donald Trump’s threat that “all hell” will break out if it does not release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Saturday. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday that the dozens of hostages would only be returned …

11-02-2025 PYONGYANG/ SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticized trilateral military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea for raising tensions in the region and vowed countermeasures, including the further development of nuclear forces. Kim said US deployments of nuclear strategic assets, war exercises and military cooperation …

11-02-2025 BEIJING: China’s top economic planning agency said on Sunday it was taking steps to scale back subsidies for renewable energy projects after a boom in solar and wind power installations. China broke its own records for new solar installations in 2024 with installed capacity up 45% from the previous …

11-02-2025 RIYADH/ JERUSALEM: Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking …

11-02-2025 LONDON: A British junior minister was sacked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday and suspended from the governing Labour Party over WhatsApp messages which the minister said were “badly misjudged”. Andrew Gwynne, who was a health minister, apologized on social media platform X following a report by the …

11-02-2025 BANGKOK: Five Thai nationals held captive in Gaza for more than a year have returned home after being released last month. Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Sarusak Rumnao and Bannawat Saethao were hugged by their families after they landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on Sunday morning. “We are …

11-02-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ RAIPUR: Indian security forces have killed at least 31 suspected Maoist rebels in the forests of the central state of Chhattisgarh, police said, in its biggest encounter this year. Two security personnel were also killed while two sustained injuries in the gun battle …

11-02-2025 PRISTINA: Polls have opened in Kosovo’s parliamentary election, seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who has been at odds with his Western allies over relations with neighboring Serbia. Voting began at 7am local time on Sunday, according to the Central Election Commission, as Kosovars headed to …