27-02-2023 AMMAN: Jordan will host a meeting on Sunday between top Israeli and Palestinian security and political officials in hopes of halting a recent surge in violence that has stoked fears of wider escalation ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, officials said. They said the one-day meeting in …

27-02-2023 ROME/ CROTONE: Forty-Three people have died and more than 40 have survived a migrant boat shipwreck in southern Italy, a spokesman for the Italian firefighters’ service said on Sunday. The shipwreck took place near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, the region that …

26-02-2023 ABUJA: Vote counting is under way in Nigeria’s tightest presidential election since military rule ended in 1999. Turnout appeared to be high, with many young, first-time voters arriving before dawn to cast their ballots. Saturday’s voting was marred by long delays at polling stations, as well as scattered reports …

26-02-2023 PARIS/ KYIV: French President Emmanuel Macron said he would visit China in April and urged it to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine, a day after Beijing presented a peace plan. China has attempted to maintain a neutral stance while retaining close ties with strategic ally Moscow, …

26-02-2023 SANA’A: People in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a staged rallies on Friday to cal for the removal of a siege on the country by the Saudi-led coalition and expressing support for Palestine. The demonstrations marked the anniversary of the 2018 assassination of Saleh al-Sammad, the former head of Yemen’s …

26-02-2023 TEHRAN: Highlighting Iran’s progress in the missile and radar industries, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Hossein Salami said the country has the technical know-how to track satellites with radars on the ground. Addressing a congress in Tehran on Saturday, Major General Salami said the young …

26-02-2023 KATHMANDU: Nepal’s deputy prime minister and three other ministers resigned from the ruling coalition after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he planned to support a presidential candidate from an opposition party. Rajendra Lingden, the deputy premier who was also the minister for energy, water resources and irrigation, resigned …

26-02-2023 Bureau Report SYDNEY: Amid the rainbow tulle, sequins and sparkles of Sydney’s 45th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade emerged the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in a simple open-necked shirt and jeans. Albanese is the first sitting prime minister to join the parade, which celebrates and continues to push …

26-02-2023 KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he plans to meet China’s leader Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing’s proposals on ending the war in Ukraine. Speaking on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he said the proposal signaled that China was involved in the search for peace. “I …

26-02-2023 ADDIS ABABA/ TUNIS: The African Union (AU) has criticized Tunisia and urged it to avoid “racialized hate speech” following President Kais Saied’s comments directed at migrants from elsewhere on the continent. Saied ordered the expulsion of undocumented migrants from Tunisia on Tuesday, saying immigration was a plot aimed at …