International

03-12-2023 GAZA CITY/ JERUSALEM: Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, says the captive-prisoner swap talks are finished until the onslaught ends. French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Doha calling for “stepped-up efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire” as Israel pulls its Mossad negotiators from Qatar. Israel’s renewed …

03-12-2023 DOHA: A team from Israel’s Mossad intelligence services was in Doha on Saturday for talks with Qatari mediators for another pause in fighting in Gaza, a source briefed on the visit said. The Qatar-mediated talks focused on the potential release of new categories of Israeli hostages other than women …

03-12-2023 BEIJING/ SHANGHAI/ SHENZHEN: China’s surge in respiratory illness is caused by known pathogens and there is no sign of new infectious diseases, a health official said on Saturday as the country faces its first full winter since lifting strict COVID-19 restrictions. The spike in illness in the country where …

03-12-2023 WASHINGTON: Donald Trump does not have immunity from criminal charges for actions he took as president, a US judge ruled on Friday, rejecting his bid to toss out the case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith accusing him of unlawfully trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. US District …

03-12-2023 TEL AVIV: Israelis interviewed on Tel Aviv’s streets backed their army’s resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip on Friday, acknowledging the dangers but blaming Hamas for the collapse of a week-long truce. The pause in a 7-week-old war had allowed for the exchange of hostages held since an …

03-12-2023 MANAUS: The Amazon rainforest’s record-breaking drought hit home for Raimundo Leite de Souza one October morning, he said, when he woke to find the stream that runs behind his house had dropped nearly a foot overnight, stranding his skiff in a mudflat. As weeks passed, Souza said, rotting fish …

03-12-2023 GAZA CITY: Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments hit Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday as Israel pressed its offensive against Hamas militants with renewed force after the collapse of a truce in the nearly two-month-old war. Palestinian residents said houses and open areas …

02-12-2023 MOSCOW: Russia’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that LGBT activists should be designated as extremists, in a move that representatives of gay and transgender people fear will lead to arrests and prosecutions. A journalist in court heard it announce that it had approved a request from the justice ministry …

02-12-2023 KHARTOUM: Eleven women have spoken about soldiers gang-raping them for up to three days. All the alleged victims are part of the ethnic-African Masalit tribe, caught up in the power struggle war in Sudan between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces. The RSF and its …

02-12-2023 TOKYO: Japan has asked the US military to ground its Osprey hybrid planes, as search and rescue operations continue following Wednesday’s deadly crash. The pause should last until the aircraft can be confirmed as safe, Japan’s NHK broadcaster cited the defence ministry as saying. One crew member has been …