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TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet on Friday approved a record $785 billion budget for the next fiscal year, aiming to strike a balance between her proactive fiscal policy and debt blowout concerns by limiting new bond issuance. Faced with rising government bond yields and a weak yen, the …

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty of abuse of power and money laundering by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in a major trial related to a multibillion-dollar scandal over the country’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, on Friday. What was the verdict against Najib? Najib, 72, …

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army says an operative with the external arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is among several people killed in strikes it has carried out across Lebanon in another breach of its ceasefire with Hezbollah. Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said the drone strike on Thursday …

ANKARA: Officials from Libya and Turkiye have stepped up coordination over the investigation into a plane crash near Ankara that killed Libya’s army chief and seven other people as forensic work and preparations for repatriating the bodies are conducted. Libya’s Criminal Investigation Department chief, Major General Mahmoud Ashour, led a …

28-12-2025 TEHRAN: Iran has rejected calls to allow inspections of nuclear facilities bombed during attacks by the United States in June, saying the United Nations nuclear watchdog must first define “post-war conditions” governing access to sites hit by military attacks. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran on …

28-12-2025 WASHINGTON: The United ‍States ‍has carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, US ⁠President Donald Trump said. “Tonight, ⁠at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and ​deadly strike ‌against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” ‌Trump said in …

27-12-2025 DAMASCUS: The Syrian government arrested a prominent ISIS leader, Taha al Zoubi (also known as Abu Omar Tabiya), along with several associates, according to a statement from the Syrian Interior Minister on Wednesday. Zoubi was reportedly apprehended with a suicide belt and a weapon at the time of his …

27-12-2025 ABUJA: An explosion has ripped through a mosque in northeastern Nigeria as worshippers gathered for their evening prayers, killing and wounding several people, according to media reports. The blast took place at about 6pm on Wednesday (17:00 GMT) in the city of Maiduguri in Borno State, media reported, citing …

27-12-2025 GAZA STRIP: Thousands of people have gathered in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve for the first public celebrations since 2022 after the city cancelled or muted festivities for two years out of respect for the thousands killed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Families filled Manger Square in the occupied …

27-12-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ BHUBABESWAR: Thousands of job seekers flocked to a small airstrip in Odisha’s Sambalpur district this month for a home guard recruitment exam, turning the site into a sprawling open-air classroom. According to PTI, more than 8,000 candidates’ contested just 187 vacancies, highlighting Odisha’s deepening unemployment …