04-02-2023 WASHINGTON: The Pentagon says it is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over United States’ airspace, reviving tensions between the two powers just days before the top US diplomat’s visit to Beijing. “The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over …
Read More »Indian journalist walks free after two years in jail
03-02-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Indian journalist Siddique Kappan, who was held in custody for more than two years without a trial, walked free on Thursday after being granted bail in a money laundering case. Kappan was arrested in October 2020 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where he …
Read More »Thousands of Nigerians file pollution cases against Shell
03-02-2023 ABUJA: More than 13,000 people from two communities in Nigeria have filed individual claims against the oil company Shell at the High Court in London. Residents from the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta want Shell to clean up oil spills and compensate them for the damage …
Read More »Iran blames Israel for drone attack, vowing revenge
03-02-2023 TEHRAN: Iran has blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military site in the central city of Isfahan on Saturday. Its ambassador to the UN said findings indicated Israel “was responsible for this attempted act of aggression”. Iran, he said, reserves the right “to respond resolutely to any …
Read More »Four jailed over deadly jihadist attack in Austria
03-02-2023 VIENNA: Four men have been given long jail sentences for being accomplices to murder in a deadly terror attack by a lone jihadist gunman in the heart of Austria’s capital in November 2020. Kujtim Fejzulai went on the rampage in Vienna’s busy nightlife area known as the Bermuda Triangle, …
Read More »US secures deal on bases to complete arc around China
03-02-2023 WASHINGTON: The US has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines, a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. With the deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc …
Read More »Police ban planned Quran burning protest in Norway
03-02-2023 OSLO: Police in Norway have banned a planned protest including the burning of a copy of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, hours after the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Norwegian ambassador to complain. A group of protesters planned to burn a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish …
Read More »US drills have pushed situation to ‘extreme red-line’: N Korea
03-02-2023 PYONGYANG/ SEOUL: North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that drills by the United States and its allies have pushed the situation to an “extreme red-line” and threaten to turn the peninsula into a “huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone.” The statement, carried by state news …
Read More »Republicans attempt to oust Democrat Omar from committee
03-02-2023 WASHINGTON: Kevin McCarthy is spearheading an effort to prevent Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from serving on the chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee due to her prior criticism of Israel. This is one of his first actions as speaker of the US House of Representatives. The proposal to dismiss Omar from the …
Read More »Australian Cardinal’s funeral sparks protests as mourners gather
02-02-2023 Bureau Report SYDNEY: Mourners and protesters faced off in Sydney on Thursday at the funeral service for Australian Cardinal George Pell, a former top Vatican official who was acquitted in 2020 of sexual abuse accusations. Australian police officials said they had dropped a court bid to block a protest …
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