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15-03-2023 TOKYO: A celebrity gossip YouTuber turned MP will become Japan’s first lawmaker to be kicked out of parliament without ever actually entering it. Yoshikazu Higashitani was expelled on Tuesday by his Senate colleagues for never coming to work. He has not attended a single day of parliament sessions since …

15-03-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MOSCOW: Russia continues to be the largest defence supplier to India, even though its share fell from 62% to 45% between 2017 and 2022, a report says. The findings come amid Delhi’s push to diversify its arms imports portfolio and boost its domestic …

15-03-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies CANBERRA/ LONDON/ WASHINGTON: The US, UK and Australia have unveiled details of their plan to create a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, aimed at countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Under the Aukus pact Australia is to get its first nuclear-powered subs at least …

TEHRAN/ RIYADH: Since becoming Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi has promised to improve Tehran’s relations with its neighbors. Last week’s agreement with Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations, signed in Beijing, is more real evidence of those attempts bearing fruit, after a recent warming of relations with Kuwait and the United …

15-03-2023 NEAR KREMINNA: Ukraine’s future hinges on the outcome of battles in the east, including in and around Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, with both sides describing brutal fighting in the small city as Russia intensifies a winter campaign to capture it. The ruined mining town of Bakhmut has become …

15-03-2023 PARIS: Police use of rubber bullets and other projectiles against peaceful protesters has become increasingly routine worldwide, leading to many eye injuries and even deaths, Amnesty International warned on Tuesday. The London-based group called for better global regulation of the trade and use of such policing equipment, also called …

15-03-2023 BEIJING: China will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in three years since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted by allowing all categories of visas to be issued from Wednesday. The removal of this last cross-border control measure imposed to guard against COVID-19 comes after authorities last …

15-03-2023 PYONGYANG/ SEOL: yongyang North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, the latest of several weapons tests as the South and the United States conduct their largest joint military drills in years. The missiles were fired about …

15-03-2023 JERUSALEM: The Israeli parliament has advanced a bill that would allow it to overrule Supreme Court rulings and enact laws that had been struck down, despite months of protests against it. The Knesset took until the early hours of Tuesday morning to pass the first reading of the bill, …

15-03-2023 MAPUTO/ LILONGWE: More than 100 people have been killed in Malawi and Mozambique after Cyclone Freddy, packing powerful winds and torrential rain, returned to Southern Africa’s mainland. Freddy barreled through Southern Africa at the weekend for the second time in a few weeks, making a comeback after it first …