29-04-2025 PARIS/ LYON: Twenty-five people have been arrested in early morning raids across France in response to a wave of coordinated attacks on prisons and the homes of prison officers in April. Raids are taking place across the country on Monday including in the capital Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux in …
Read More »Beijing seizes tiny sandbank in South China Sea
29-04-2025 BEIJING: The Chinese coastguard has seized a tiny sandbank in the South China Sea, state media has reported, in an escalation of a regional dispute with the Philippines. State broadcaster CCTV released images of four officers, wearing all black and holding the Chinese flag, standing on the disputed reef …
Read More »Israel launches air strike on Beirut
29-04-2025 JERUSALEM/ BEIRUT: Israel carried out an air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, after ordering an evacuation of a building that it said was being used by the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. The attack occurred despite a ceasefire that came into force five months ago which put an end …
Read More »Russia claims it has regained full control of Kursk
28-04-2025 MOSCOW: Russia’s military says it has regained full control of the country’s western Kursk region, a claim denied by Ukraine. Top Russian commander Valery Gerasimov said the last village held by Ukrainian troops had now been recaptured, eight months after Kyiv’s surprise incursion. He also praised the “heroism” of …
Read More »UK activist group holds its last climate protest
28-04-2025 LONDON: British environmental activist group Just Stop Oil has held its final demonstration in London, ending three years of high-profile climate protest stunts as they moved their focus away from civil disobedience. Yesterday everal hundred supporters walked peacefully through the centre of the UK capital, from parliament to the …
Read More »USAID & the pacification industry in Palestine
28-04-2025 JERUSALEM: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) opened its office in Palestine back in 1994. Its website, which is no longer available, used to boast that since then, it has “helped four million Palestinians lead healthier and more productive lives”. Now that the agency has been shuttered …
Read More »Panic in Pakistan as India vows to cut off water supply
28-04-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ NEW DELHI: Spraying pesticides on his parched vegetables one street away from the Indus River, Pakistani farmer Homla Thakhur is worried about his future. The sun is at its peak, the river is running very low, and India has vowed to cut supplies upstream …
Read More »Iran ‘extremely cautious’ about success of nuclear talks with US
28-04-2025 TEHRAN/ WASHINGTON: Iran and the United States have agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said, as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was “extremely cautious” about the potential success of the negotiations aimed at resolving a decades-long nuclear standoff. US President Donald Trump has signaled …
Read More »Hamas presents new ceasefire plan to mediators
28-04-2025 JERUSALEM/ GAZA/ SANA’A: Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza, killing at least 40 Palestinians on Saturday, as aid officials sound the alarm over “full-scale famine conditions” amid Israel’s blockade. Hamas says it presented its “vision for reaching a comprehensive deal that achieves a ceasefire, prisoner exchange, and reconstruction” to mediators …
Read More »‘Australia’s universal healthcare is crumbling’
28-04-2025 CANBERRA/ SYDNEY: From an office perched on the scalloped edge of the continent, Victoria Bradley jokes that she has the most beautiful doctor’s practice in Australia. Outside her window, farmland rolls into rocky coastline, hemming a glasslike bay striped with turquoise and populated by showboating dolphins. Home to about …
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