14-02-2025 JERUSALEM/ BEIRTU: Israel is seeking another extension of the deadline for the withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon, a Western diplomatic source says, a request that is likely to raise new concerns in a country with a history of Israeli occupation. Israeli forces had been due to pull …
Read More »Half of French island in Indian Ocean burnt by wildfire
14-02-2025 PARIS/ AMSTERDAM: For nearly a month the French territory of Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean has been engulfed in flames. Located about halfway between Australia, Antarctica and Madagascar, the island has seen burning across more than 55% of its 54sq km area. Amsterdam Island doesn’t have a …
Read More »Confusion clouds efforts to save Gaza ceasefire
14-02-2025 GAZA STRIP: The Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has looked shaky since it came into force on 19 January but now looks the closest yet to totally falling apart. A senior Egyptian source told media that regional mediators Egypt and Qatar were “intensifying their diplomatic efforts in …
Read More »Fifty countries affected by USAID freeze: WHO
14-02-2025 GENEVA: Programs to tackle HIV, polio, mpox and bird flu have been affected by the freeze on tens of billions of dollars of overseas aid from the US, says the head of the World Health Organization (WHO). US President Donald Trump has taken steps to close the United States …
Read More »Putin agrees to begin talks to end war in Ukraine: Trump
14-02-2025 WASHINGTON/ MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump has said he had a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in which the leaders agreed to begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he and the …
Read More »Australian nurses suspended over ‘vile’ antisemitic video
14-02-2025 SYDNEY: Two Australian nurses have been suspended after a video appeared to show them threatening to kill Israeli patients and boasting about refusing to treat them. The man and woman both employees at a Sydney hospital are now being investigated by police, officials in New South Wales (NSW) said. …
Read More »UN estimates 1,400 killed in crackdown in Bangladesh
13-02-2025 UNITED NATIONS/ DKAKA: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government tried to cling on to power using systematic, deadly violence against protesters that could amount to “crimes against humanity”, the UN has said. UN human rights investigators accused the deposed government of a brutal response to mass …
Read More »Trump presses Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza
13-02-2025 WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Tuesday pressed Jordan’s King Abdullah to take in Palestinians who would be permanently displaced under the president’s plan for the US to take over the Gaza Strip, even as the king said his country was firmly opposed to the move. Speaking alongside the Arab country’s …
Read More »US trade war fears wipe out $180b from Indian stocks
13-02-2025 WASHINGTON/ NEW DELHI: Indian stocks have lost about $180 billion in market value in the two days since US President Donald Trump said he would slap reciprocal tariffs on several countries, with many analysts saying the world’s fifth-largest economy could be worst hit. The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50, opens …
Read More »Yemen’s Houthis warn they are ready to attack Israel
13-02-2025 SANA’A: Yemen’s Houthis have announced they are ready to attack Israel if it reneges on its ceasefire deal with Hamas and resumes its assault on Gaza. Leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Tuesday that the group was “ready to launch a military intervention at any time …
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