20-04-2026 PARIS/ LONDON/ DUBAI: The UK and France will lead a multinational mission to protect commercial shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, Sir Keir Starmer has said. Speaking after a meeting of 51 countries, the prime minister underlined the work would be “strictly peaceful and defensive” and would only …
Read More »Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan arrested in Dubai
20-04-2026 DUBAI/ LONDON: Suspected crime boss Daniel Kinahan has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates in relation to alleged serious organized crime offences. Kinahan, aged in his 40s, was arrested in Dubai under a warrant issued by the Irish courts, Irish national broadcaster RTE has reported. The US government …
Read More »Australia & Japan sign contracts of $7 billion warship deal
20-04-2026 SYDNEY: Australia and Japan signed contracts on Saturday launching their landmark AU$10 billion ($7 billion) deal to supply Australia with warships, Tokyo’s most consequential military sale since ending a military export ban in 2014. Defence Ministers Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a memorandum “reaffirming the Australian and Japanese …
Read More »India drops proposal to require biometric ID App
20-04-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s government has decided not to go ahead with a proposal to require Apple, Samsung and others to pre-install the country’s biometric identification app Aadhaar on phones, a state body said on Friday; a move that had been opposed by the smartphone giants. Media reported …
Read More »Trump seeks ‘resolution’ of his $10bn lawsuit against IRS
20-04-2026 WASHINGTON: Court filings have indicated that lawyers for President Donald Trump are seeking a resolution with the Department of Justice over a $10bn lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) but the trouble, critics say, is that such a settlement would leave Trump essentially negotiating with an …
Read More »US blockade of ports must end as strait opens: Iran
20-04-2026 TEHRAN: Speaker of Iran’s parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said that recent claims by US President Donald Trump regarding Iran “were false” and warned that the Strait of Hormuz “will not remain open” if the US blockade of Iranian ports continues. Trump told media that there were no “sticking …
Read More »Can Pakistan secure Iran-US nuclear compromise?
19-04-2026 By SJA Jafri ISLAMABAD/ TEHRAN/ WASHINGTON: Standing on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding his helicopter for Las Vegas on Thursday, United States President Donald Trump offered his most optimistic assessment yet of the war with Iran. “We’re very close to making a deal with Iran,” …
Read More »Thousands celebrate open-air Mass with Pope in Cameroon
19-04-2026 YAOUNDE: More than 120,000 people have joined Pope Leo XIV in Cameroon for an open-air Mass, the biggest crowd so far during his 11-day Africa tour. Arriving in the economic city of Douala on Friday, the Pope reiterated his message of peace after visiting the country’s Anglophone region hit …
Read More »‘Record number of Rohingya refugees died at sea last year’
19-04-2026 GENEVA: Nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal in 2025, making it the deadliest year on record for the route, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday. More than one in seven of the estimated …
Read More »Oil falls by 13% after Iran declares Strait of Hormuz open
19-04-2026 HOUSTON: Oil prices plunged by about 13% on Friday after Iran’s foreign minister said passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz was open for the remaining ceasefire period and US President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed to never close the strait again. Brent crude futures …
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