22-10-2024 COLOMBIA: Environmental leaders from nearly 200 countries are gathering in Colombia to assess historic commitments to halt and reverse the loss of nature. The two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) starting on Monday is a follow-up to the 2022 Montreal meetings where 196 countries signed an ambitious global treaty, …
Read More »Pakistan passes amendment empowering parliament
22-10-2024 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government has approved new constitutional amendments to give legislators more power in appointing the top judge, a move seen as sidelining the courts that have allegedly favored jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill was passed early …
Read More »Israel ‘strangles’ north Gaza, kills 640 in 17 days
22-10-2024 JERUSALEM/ GAZA STRIP: At least 33 Palestinians are killed in Israeli attacks throughout the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources say, including 18 in Jabalia refugee camp as the forced expulsion by troops in the north continues. Medical sources tell Al Jazeera that at least 640 Palestinians have been …
Read More »Risking death to smuggle alcohol past Somali Islamists
22-10-2024 MOGADISHU: Alcohol smuggler Guled Diriye is exhausted. He has just returned from his trip transporting contraband from the Ethiopian border. The 29-year-old slumps in his chair inside a colonial-style villa battered by years of fighting in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, a city once known as the Pearl of the Indian …
Read More »Over 100 women footballers urge FIFA to end Saudi oil deal
22-10-2024 AMSTERDAM: More than 100 professional women’s footballers have signed an open letter urging Federation International Football Association (FIFA) to drop the Saudi oil giant Aramco as a sponsor, calling it a “punch in the stomach” to the sport. Earlier this year FIFA announced a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned …
Read More »Millions of people hit by flooding in South Sudan
22-10-2024 KHARTUM: Millions of people in South Sudan have been affected by floods across much of the country, the UN’s humanitarian organization, Ocha, has said. More than a quarter of those many in the north have been forced from their homes by rising waters. Ocha said the displaced were seeking …
Read More »India and China agree to de-escalate border tensions
22-10-2024 NEW DELHI/ BEIJING: India and China have agreed on patrolling arrangements to de-escalate tensions along their disputed Himalayan border, India’s top diplomat has said. Vikram Misri said on Monday that the two sides have agreed on “disengagement and resolution of issues in these (border) areas that had arisen in …
Read More »Indigenous Australian senator defends heckling King
22-10-2024 CANBERRA: An Australian senator has defended heckling King Charles and accusing him of genocide after he addressed Australia’s Parliament House, telling media that “he’s not of this land”. Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal Australian woman, interrupted the ceremony in the capital of Canberra by shouting for about a minute before …
Read More »Wave of Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah-linked banks in Lebanon
22-10-2024 JERUSALEM/ BEIRUT: Israel has carried out air strikes across Lebanon, saying its targeting branches of a bank used by Hezbollah. The Israeli military issued 24 warnings in less than an hour evacuation warnings which caused widespread panic, according to the UN’s envoy to Lebanon. The Al-Qard al-Hassan bank has …
Read More »‘Yes’ to pro-EU constitutional changes by tiny margin: Moldova
22-10-2024 CHISINAU: People in Moldova have backed the Eastern European country’s proposed changes to its constitution and commitment to joining the EU by the thinnest of margins in a referendum. Official data put Yes on 50.46% and No on 49.54% on Monday afternoon, with more than 99.6% of votes counted. …
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