Strike on train station kills 50 in Ukraine
• EU officials in Kyiv for talks and visit to scene of civilian deaths in Bucha • Japan, Finland to expel Russian diplomats; Turkey pushes for talks KRAMATORSK: In one of the deadliest strikes of the six-week-old Ukrainian war, at least 50 people were killed and hundreds injured on Friday when a rocket hit a train […]
US and Nato allies pledge more arms to Ukraine
BRUSSELS: The United States will send new weapon systems to Ukraine, Washington’s top diplomat said on Thursday after Nato foreign ministers agreed to accelerate arms deliveries in response to Russia’s invasion. Urged by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to end bureaucracy-driven delays, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States and 30 other […]
President will not resign, despite protests, says Lankan minister
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign, a minister said on Wednesday, despite demonstrations against his handling of the country’s worst economic crisis in decades and as doctors held street protests over a shortage of medicines. Rajapaksa, governing the country since 2019 with other family members in top positions, revoked a state of […]
Sri Lankan president loses parliamentary majority as protests mount
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president lost his parliamentary majority on Tuesday as former allies urged his resignation following days of street protests over the island nation’s crippling economic crisis. Unprecedented shortages of food and fuel along with record inflation and blackouts have inflicted widespread misery in the country’s most painful downturn since independence from Britain in […]
Blast in Afghan capital kills one, wounds several
KABUL: An explosion in the centre of the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday killed one person and wounded at least 59 others, hospital officials said. In a tweet, Kabul’s Emergency Hospital said one body was received at the hospital and 59 people were treated, with 30 of the wounded being admitted for further treatment. […]
Search finds 49,000 pieces of plane in China crash
BEIJING: Chinese officials said on Thursday that the search for wreckage in last week’s crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 is basically done and that more than 49,000 pieces of debris had been found. Flight MU5735 plunged from 29,000 feet (8,800 metres) into a mountainside in southern China’s Guangxi region, killing all 132 people on board. […]
Fresh shelling throws spanner in Ukraine truce hopes
KYIV: Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of shelling a city where it had promised de-escalation, dampening hopes of an end to a war that has killed thousands and displaced millions, including 4m who have now fled the country. Ukraine and Western powers had already cast doubt on Russia’s pledge to reduce military activity around Chernigiv […]
Hospitals in Sri Lanka running out of life-saving drugs
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s state-run hospitals are running out of life-saving medicines due to a shortage of dollars needed to import essentials as the country reels from a dire economic crisis, officials said on Tuesday. Teaching Hospital Peradeniya which serves a population of 2.4 million people in the Central province said it was suspending all routine […]
Biden sticks to suggestion Putin should step down
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden refused on Monday to back down on his weekend declaration in a major speech that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power” — arguing that he was voicing personal “outrage.” “I’m not walking anything back… I want to make it clear, I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating […]
Thousands protest in Madrid against abortion
MADRID: Thousands of people marched though Madrid on Sunday to protest against abortion, as Spain’s leftist government prepares a law to guarantee access to the procedure at public hospitals. Carrying signs that read “Abortion is not right” and chanting “More respect for life”, demonstrators walked through the centre of the Spanish capital to Cibeles square […]
