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08-01-2025 DAMASCUS: On the edge of Douma, one of the Damascus suburbs most devastated by the war, in a shrouded living room next to a stove, Umm Mazen recounts the 12 years she desperately sought news of two of her sons, who were arrested in the first years of the …

08-01-2025 WASHINGTON: A huge winter storm brings heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures to the east coast of the US, as a state of emergency has been declared in seven states. In Washington DC, isolated areas could see up to 16 inches of snowfall, according to the National Weather Service, as …

08-01-2025 WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of America’s coastline, weeks before Donald Trump takes office. The ban covers the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and …

08-01-2025 OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could announce his resignation within days, according to media reports. He is considering stepping down as leader of the governing Liberal Party, which would also bring to an end his nine years as prime minister. Last month his finance minister quit, citing policy …

08-01-2025 OSLO: The Arctic recently made headlines after Donald Trump repeated his desire to buy Greenland. Trump cited national security interests but for many the territory’s vast mineral wealth is the main attraction. Yet economic development elsewhere in the vast polar region has ground to a halt. Working conditions in …

07-01-2025 JERUSALEM/ CAIRO: A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel. It is unclear how many of those named remain alive. Among them …

07-01-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies SYDNEY: Australia’s southeast sweated in a heatwave that intensified on Sunday, elevating bushfire risk and prompting authorities to issue fire bans for more parts of Victoria state. Australia is in the grips of a high-risk bushfire season, with firefighters last week battling a large blaze …

07-01-2025 CAIRO: Egypt is expected to receive a $1.2 billion disbursement from the International Monetary Fund this month as part of an $8 billion program with the international lender, Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said on Sunday. Last month, the IMF said it reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt on the …

07-01-2025 LONDON: Elon Musk said Nigel Farage should quit as leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party in an abrupt withdrawal of support by the US billionaire for the Brexit campaigner who is trying to shake up the British political establishment again. “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage …

07-01-2025 DAMASCUS: Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani has called on the United States to lift crippling sanctions on his country, as he visited Qatar as part of a regional trip to seek support after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Following a meeting with Qatar’s prime minister on Sunday, …