12-09-2024 PARIS: An audible sigh of frustration drifted across the packed seats of courtroom “Voltaire” in Avignon’s Palace of Justice, as the lead judge, dressed in a scarlet robe, announced an unexpected but unavoidable delay to a trial that has gripped France. “He is ill,” said Presiding Judge Roger Arata, …

12-09-2024 MISSOURI: Missouri’s top court on Tuesday ruled that a proposed abortion rights amendment to the state constitution will appear on the ballot in November. The decision will allow voters to decide whether to restore legal abortion in Missouri for the first time in more than two years. The state …

12-09-2024 LONDON: The US, UK, France and Germany have imposed fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. The measures include restrictions on national carrier Iran Air’s ability to fly to the UK and Europe, and travel bans and asset freezes on a number …

11-09-2024 WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump clash on key issues as they debate for the first time in the 2024 US presidential election. Both candidates have repeatedly called each other liars in the first half hour of the debate. The candidates started with the economy, Trump highlighting tariffs on …

11-09-2024 MOSCOW: Ukraine struck the Moscow region on Tuesday in its biggest drone attack so far on the Russian capital, killing at least one woman, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing around 50 flights to be diverted from airports around Moscow. Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, said it had …

11-09-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday he did not view this year’s two-month general elections as a free exercise, but rather as one structured to deliver an advantage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without citing evidence but Modi suffered a rare …

11-09-2024 LUXEMBOURG: Apple has been told to pay €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes to Ireland by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax advantages eight years ago but the Irish government has consistently argued against the need for the tax …

11-09-2024 BEIJING:  row has erupted on Chinese social media over the use of air conditioners in classrooms as the country endures an unseasonal heatwave. Parents in some of China’s hottest cities have called on schools to install air conditioners as temperatures surpass 35C. The conversation heated up in the southern …

11-09-2024 BRUSSELS: Europe’s top court has ruled Google must pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine handed down for abusing the market dominance of its shopping comparison service. The tech giant had appealed against the fine, which was originally levied by the European Commission in 2017. It was at the time the …

11-09-2024 DILI, TIMOR-LESTE: Some 600,000 people have gathered in a field outside Timor-Leste’s capital Dili for one of the biggest masses of Pope Francis’s papacy. The open-air congregation represents nearly half the population of the small Southeast Asian country one of the most Roman Catholic places on Earth and the …