Two stabbed to death at Lisbon’s Islamic centre
LISBON: An attacker armed with a knife killed two women on Tuesday at an Islamic centre in the Portuguese capital before being shot and wounded by police, authorities said. The head of the Ismaili community centre in Lisbon, Nazim Ahmad, told the private TV channel SIC that both women were employees of the centre. According […]
China spent $240bn bailing out ‘Belt & Road’ countries: study
China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building “Belt & Road” infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday. Almost 80 per cent of the rescue lending was made between 2016 and 2021, mainly to […]
34 migrants missing after shipwreck off Tunisia
TUNIS: Thirty-four migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were missing off Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast on Friday after their boat capsized, a court official said, the latest in a string of tragedies this month. The boat carrying 38 people had set off on Thursday from near Sfax and was attempting to reach Italy, said Fawzi El Masmoudi, a […]
China’s diplomatic offensive lays down new challenge for US
WASHINGTON: Few expect Chinese President Xi Jinping’s diplomacy to yield breakthroughs in the Ukraine war. But in Washington, there are fears Beijing may succeed elsewhere — in winning credibility on the world stage. Xi pushed forward positions on Ukraine during two days of talks in Moscow, a week after China announced the restoration of ties […]
Data from Wuhan animal market yields clues about origins
LONDON: Data from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, briefly uploaded to a global database by Chinese scientists, gives crucial information on the outbreak’s origins, including on an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, researchers said. The virus was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019, with many suspecting the Huanan live […]
ICC prosecutor urges Russia to ‘repatriate Ukrainian children’
LONDON: International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan urged countries on Monday to find “the stamina to deliver on justice,” as ministers from dozens of capitals met to discuss boosting support for ICC probes into the war in Ukraine. The gathering of more than 40 ministers in London follows the issue on Friday of arrest […]
Assad in UAE, gets president’s nod for return to Arab fold
DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday told his Syrian counterpart it was time for diplomatically isolated Damascus to be reintegrated into the wider Arab region during a meeting in Abu Dhabi, state media reported. The trip by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — his second to the oil-rich United Arab Emirates […]
Actor Lance Reddick, police chief on ‘The Wire,’ dead at age 60
Actor Lance Reddick, best known for his commanding presence as a no-nonsense police chief on the acclaimed television drama “The Wire” and for his supporting work in the “John Wick” action-film series, died on Friday at age 60, his publicist said. Reddick died suddenly on Friday morning of natural causes, according to a statement issued […]
China wants Russia and Ukraine to hold peace talks
BEIJING: China is concerned about an escalation of the war in Ukraine and wants Moscow and Kyiv to hold peace talks, senior Chinese diplomat Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart over a phone call on Thursday. China, which has refrained from condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, has urged both sides to agree to […]
Saudi Arabia could invest in Iran ‘very quickly’, says minister
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia could start making investments in Iran “very quickly” after they agreed to restore diplomatic ties, the Saudi finance minister said on Wednesday, despite sweeping US sanctions against Tehran. Mohammed Al Jadaan said there were “a lot of opportunities” in Iran and that he could not see any reason to prevent investments from […]
