International

19-12-2023 JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: In October, shortly after the start of the Israeli war on Gaza that has now killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians, Israel pledged to wipe Hamas “off the face of the earth”, a project that would require Israel’s military “to flatten the ground” in Gaza, as an Israeli …

19-12-2023 MOSCOW: The Russian president has dismissed the United States’s claims that Moscow could attack a NATO country in the future as “complete nonsense”, saying such a conflict would run counter to his country’s interests. Vladimir Putin made the statement in an interview with Russian state TV on Sunday, weeks …

19-12-2023 CONAKRY: At least eight people were killed and 84 injured following a blast at an oil terminal in Guinea’s capital Conakry early on Monday, a senior police officer told Reuters. The officer said the toll was provisional, adding that the blaze was being contained. The blast at the West …

19-12-2023 GAZA CITY: In Baqa al-Gharbiyye, an hour’s drive from Haifa, city folk have temporarily traded pens for boots to aid farmers facing a labour shortage exacerbated by Israel’s war on Gaza. The volunteers hailing from different backgrounds have come together during their leisure time to lend a helping hand …

19-12-2023 BAGHDAD: Iraqis are headed to the polls to elect provincial councils for the first time in 10 years, with thousands vying for seats in the powerful assemblies. Ballots will be cast in 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces on Monday. The elections are a prelude to a parliamentary vote in …

18-12-2023 WASHINGTON: Various organizations and senators have lashed out at three Republican senators for posing hostile questions to President Joe Biden’s historic judicial nominee Adeel Mangi during his recent confirmation hearing. He is the first Muslim-American nominee for the federal appellate court. During the Wednesday hearing by the Senate judiciary …

18-12-2023 TROPICAL ZONES OF PACIFIC & INDIAN OCEANS: More than a dozen of the coral islands that mark Australia’s maritime boundaries are at risk of disappearing, a study has found. Multiple stresses including rising sea levels threaten their existence. Their disappearance could have implications for the country’s maritime borders, the …

18-12-2023 TEL AVIV/ GAZA CITY: Demonstrations have taken place in Tel Aviv with calls for the Israeli government to do more to bring home hostages from Gaza The protests were sparked by the Israeli military mistakenly killing three hostages in Gaza – Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz after …

18-12-2023 VATICAN CITY: A Vatican court has sentenced Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former adviser to Pope Francis, to five-and-a-half years in jail for financial crimes. Becciu, 75, was the most senior Vatican official ever to face such charges and once seen as a papal contender himself. The trial centred …

18-12-2023 CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA: SpaceX has said it has earmarked December 28 for the launch of the United States military’s X-37B robot space plane on its seventh mission to orbit. “Now targeting no earlier than Thursday, December 28 for the Falcon Heavy to launch USSF-52 to orbit from Florida,” SpaceX …