Tel Aviv plans to keep troops in demilitarised zone through winter
JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that is supposed to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights. Israel seized the demilitarised zone on the strategic plateau on Sunday, just hours after rebels swept Syrian president Bashar Al […]
Fierce strikes leave 176 dead in Sudan
PORT SUDAN: At least 176 people were killed in two days of army and paramilitary strikes across Sudan, according to tolls provided by officials, activists and lawyers on Tuesday. In Omdurman, part of the Sudanese capital, paramilitary shelling killed at least 65 people and wounded hundreds on Tuesday, according to the state’s army-aligned governor. A […]
Trump to end birthright US citizenship
• Vows mass deportation of undocumented immigrants; promises pardons for Jan 6 rioters on his first day in office • Plans to reduce military aid to Ukraine WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump in an interview aired on Sunday vowed to make immediate and sweeping changes after he takes office on Jan 20, such as pardons […]
Musk spent over $250m in Trump’s election campaign
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Donald Trump win the presidential election, according to new filings, underscoring the influence one of the world’s wealthiest people had on this year’s White House race. The billionaire owner of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX gave $259 million to groups supporting […]
Magnitude 7 quake strikes off California
LOS ANGELES: A magnitude seven earthquake hit off the northern California coast on Thursday, prompting a tsunami warning for a large stretch of the California and Oregon coasts. Some 4.7 million residents of California and Oregon were under the tsunami warning, the National Weather Service said. But the tsunami warning was lifted an hour later. […]
Canada pulls refugee welcome mat, launches ads warning asylum claims hard
Once presenting itself as one of the world’s most welcoming countries to refugees and immigrants, Canada is launching a global online ad campaign cautioning asylum-seekers that making a claim is hard. The C$250,000 ($178,662) in advertisements will run through March in 11 languages, including Urdu, Spanish, Ukrainian, Hindi and Tamil, the immigration department told Reuters. […]
Deal to procure 26 Rafale-M jets to be inked soon: Navy chief
NEW DELHI: India is set to seal the proposed procurement of 26 naval variant of Rafale jets and three additional Scorpene submarines soon, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said on Monday. At a media briefing ahead of Navy Day, Admiral Tripathi also said that the government’s approval for two SSNs (nuclear-powered submarines) indicated its […]
Anti-Damascus fighters enter Aleppo after lightning assault
• Fierce fighting leaves over 250 dead in three days • Syrian and Russian jets carry out strikes in Idlib BEIRUT: Fighters battling the Syrian army and their Ankara-backed allies reached the country’s second city of Aleppo on Friday, as they pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iran- and Russia-backed government. The fighting […]
G20 leaders talk climate, brace for Trump’s return
RIO DE JANEIRO: G20 leaders on Tuesday were holding the final day of a summit that offered some impetus to stalled UN climate talks, diverged on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East — and foresaw global turbulence as Donald Trump readies to take over the US presidency. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, […]
Biden, Xi agree to ‘no AI control over nuclear weapons’
• Xi says China ready to work with Trump administration for ‘smooth transition’ in bilateral ties • Counts Taiwan among four ‘red lines’ that must not be crossed LIMA: US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that human beings and not artificial intelligence should make decisions over the use of nuclear weapons, […]