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13-12-2024 QUEENSLAND: The Australian state of Queensland has passed laws which will see children as young as 10 subject to the same penalties as adults if convicted of crimes such as murder, serious assault and break-ins. The government says the harsher sentencing rules are in response to “community outrage over …

13-12-2024 JERUSALEM/ CAIRO: Israelis and Palestinians are signaling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, even a limited one, for the first time in a year that would pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave. Israel Defence Minister …

13-12-2024 CANBERRA/ SYDNEY: Australia’s centre-left government on Thursday will unveil new rules that could impose fines on Big Tech companies if they refuse to continue to pay Australian media firms for news content hosted on their platforms, local media reported. Under the proposed new rules, any internet company that refuses …

13-12-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: The Indian rupee weakened to its all-time low on Wednesday, pressured by heightened dollar bids in the non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market, while likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) helped limit losses, traders said. The rupee fell to 84.86 in …

13-12-2024 WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump is now considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for Iran, according to two people familiar with the transition plans. “He’s definitely in the running,” said a person familiar with transition deliberations, who asked not to be identified. No …

13-12-2024 UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and expressed support for the work of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, …

13-12-2024 WASHINGTON: The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Christopher Wray, will resign from his position before the second term of United States President-elect Donald Trump, according to the agency. In a statement to staff released by the agency on Wednesday, Wray cited a desire to keep the …

12-12-2024 ATHENS/ BERLIN: Najem al-Moussa was delighted when news of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow first beamed from the television in his tiny Athens apartment. Then came a dreaded thought: what if Assad’s fall meant he and his family would be forced to return to the devastated country they had …

12-12-2024 BEIJING: China’s top leaders and policymakers are considering allowing the yuan to weaken in 2025 as they brace for higher US trade tariffs as Donald Trump returns to the White House. The contemplated move reflects China’s recognition that it needs bigger economic stimulus to combat Trump’s threats of punitive …

12-12-2024 MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Wednesday played down the damage to Russian influence in the Middle East from the fall of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, saying that its focus was on Ukraine and that Moscow was in contact with Syria’s new rulers. When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War …