World,Back Page

Conservatives to protest McCarthy-Biden debt deal

In fallout from the debt ceiling deal, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is suddenly confronting a new threat to his power as angry hard-right conservatives bring the House chamber to a halt, reviving their displeasure over the compromise struck with President Joe Biden and demanding deeper spending cuts ahead...

World,Front Page

US will press ahead with Israel-Saudi normalisation

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the expansion of Israeli settlements and ongoing demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank are taking Israel further away from peace with the Palestinians.Yet, he stressed that the U.S.-Israel relationship remains “iron-clad,&...

World

2 Pakistani soldiers killed in militant attack near border with Iran

Militants attacked a Pakistani security post near the country's border with Iran on Thursday, triggering a shootout that killed two soldiers, the military said.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the area of Singwan in restive southwestern Baluchistan province. The m...

World,Front Page

9 hurt in shooting near beach in Hollywood

Nine people were injured when gunfire erupted along a beachside promenade in Hollywood, Florida, sending people frantically running for cover along the crowded beach on Memorial Day.The nine people hurt Monday evening included six adults and three children, according to Yanet Obarrio Sanchez, a spok...

World,Front Page

Crucial days ahead as deal goes for vote

President Joe Biden says he “feels good” about the debt ceiling and budget deal negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the White House and congressional leaders work to ensure its passage this week in time to lift the nation’s borrowing limit and prevent a disastrous U.S. ...

World

30 peacekeepers hurt in clashes with ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo

The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, on Tuesday raised the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs to 30.The Serbs had tried to take over the offices of one of the municipalities in northern Kosovo where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week.A stat...

World

Biden, GOP reach tentative deal to raise debt ceiling

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” to raise the nation’s legal debt ceiling late Saturday as they raced to strike a deal to limit federal spending and avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default.However, the agreement risks ange...

World

Iran exchanges heavy gunfire with Taliban on Afghan border: 1 killed

The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights.Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country&rs...

World

US, KSA call for warring sides in Sudan to extend ‘imperfect’ truce

The United States (US) and Saudi Arabia called on warring sides in Sudan to extend a fragile cease-fire due to expire Monday, as weeks of fighting reached a stalemate in the capital and elsewhere in the African country.The Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary force, battling for control of Sudan s...

World,Back Page

Brazil’s Amazon city to host 2025 climate conference

Brazil’s government announced Friday that a U.N. Latin America regional group has endorsed a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 U.N. climate change conference, though the world body has not yet publicly confirmed the venue.President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially ...

World,Front Page

Climate protesters face tear gas in Paris

French police threw a security cordon around a shareholders' meeting in Paris of oil major TotalEnergies on Friday, spraying tear gas and pushing back climate protesters who chanted, "Be gentle, police officers, we're doing this for your kids!"Shareholders, some escorted into the m...

World,Back Page

Climbers celebrate amid melting glaciers, rising warmth

As the mountaineering community prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest, there is growing concern about temperatures rising, glaciers and snow melting, and weather getting harsh and unpredictable on the world's tallest mountain.Since the 8,849-meter (29,032-fo...

World,Back Page

Successes, failures and many challenges

Over the past 75 years, the United Nations sent more than 2 million peacekeepers to help countries move away from conflict, with successes from Liberia to Cambodia and major failures in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Today, it faces new challenges in the dozen hotspots where U.N. peacekeeping ha...

World

S Korea, US troops hold large live-fire drills near DPRK

The South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire exercises through m...

World

Iran unveils latest version of ballistic missile amid wider tensions over N-programme

Iran unveiled on Thursday what it called the latest iteration of its liquid-fueled Khorramshahr ballistic missile amid wider tensions with the West over its nuclear programme.Authorities showed off the Khorramshahr-4 to journalists at an event in Tehran, with the missile on a truck-mounted launcher....

World

Germany cracks down on climate activists

German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries.Members of the group have repeatedly b...

World

KSA, US urge Sudan gens to stick to truce commitments

Saudi Arabia and the US reaffirmed on Tuesday the importance of a ceasefire signed by warring parties in Sudan, urging them to adhere to their commitments.The Saudi foreign ministry  said: “The Saudi and US facilitators note with concern that neither side observed its commitment not to se...

World

Sustainable mushroom coffin a last best wish for some

For those seeking to live in the most sustainable way, there now is an afterlife too.A Dutch intrepid inventor is now “growing” coffins by putting mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, together with hemp fiber in a special mold that, in a week, turns into what could basically be com...

World,Back Page

Space station welcomes first Saudi female astronaut

The International Space Station rolled out the welcome mat Monday for two Saudi visitors, including the kingdom's first female astronaut.SpaceX's chartered flight arrived at the orbiting lab less than 16 hours after blasting off from Florida. The four guests will spend just over a week there...

World,Front Page

Facebook parent Meta hit with record fine

The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday (May 22, 2023) and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.The penalty fine of 1.2 billion euros from Ireland'...