Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Wednesday he wants to expel Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera from Israel amid tensions over a sensitive Jerusalem holy site. “The Al-Jazeera channel continues to incite violence around the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post, referring to the Haram al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem, known to Jews as the … Read more
The leader of India’s eastern Bihar state resigned from his post on Wednesday in a surprise move widely expected to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grip on power. Nitish Kumar, the popular chief minister of one of India’s most populous and impoverished states, told journalists that it had become “impossible” for him to run the … Read more
The EU has warned Poland it will suspend its voting rights if it pushes ahead with controversial court reforms, sparking a furious reaction from Warsaw. Poland’s right-wing government accused Brussels of ‘blackmail’ after the European Commission significantly raised the stakes in the confrontation. President Andrzej Duda’s unexpected vetoing of two controversial reforms, including one targeting … Read more
Seventeen members of the same Indian family were found dead Wednesday as floodwaters receded from a village in Gujarat, officials said, as the death toll from the state-wide disaster climbed above 110. “They seem to have drowned in the floodwaters. The bodies were found buried in muck,” A B Parmar, a police inspector at the … Read more
A tense standoff was underway between Israel and Muslim worshippers at a Jerusalem holy site Wednesday despite the removal of metal detectors, with concerns of major unrest later this week if a resolution is not found. Muslims have refused to enter the site and have prayed in the streets outside for more than a week … Read more
The EU’s top court rules Wednesday on whether Islamist movement Hamas should be taken off the bloc’s terror black list, a move that would likely spark anger in Israel and the United States. Washington and Israel were outraged in December 2014 when a lower European court said Hamas should be dropped because the EU had … Read more
World-renowned indigenous singer Gurrumul has died after a “long battle with illness” aged 46, his management said Wednesday, as Australians hailed his contributions to music. Born blind, the reluctant star never gave any interviews and was painfully shy, but his music drew worldwide acclaim, despite the fact that he performed in his Gumatj dialect which … Read more
US President Donald Trump accused Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday of committing “horrible” crimes against humanity, and vowed to prevent his regime from carrying out any more chemical attacks. Speaking at a White House press conference with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Trump also called the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah a threat to the … Read more
The two principal rivals in conflict-ridden Libya, who are to hold French-brokered talks Tuesday near Paris, are committed to a ceasefire and elections “as soon as possible”, said a draft talks statement. The statement says Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar, the rival military commander who controls the east of the conflict-ridden … Read more
France is hosting a rare meeting on Tuesday between Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and military strongman Khalifa Haftar who backs a rival administration in the east. The French government hopes the meeting will help clinch a political agreement to end years of chaos that has gripped Libya since a 2011 uprising toppled and … Read more
Worsening floods killed another eight people in 24 hours in India’s Gujarat state as rescue teams raced Tuesday to reach hundreds of people marooned in stricken towns and villages. With scores now dead in monsoon floods across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to fly over Gujarat later Tuesday to inspect the devastation, officials … Read more
Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and military strongman rival Khalifa Haftar are set to meet near Paris on Tuesday for talks aimed at easing tensions in their violence-wracked country. It is their first encounter since a rare meeting in Abu Dhabi in May. The talks come as Europe struggles to secure a political settlement … Read more
Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj holds French-brokered talks Tuesday with Khalifa Haftar, the rival military commander who controls the east, to try to end the chaos in the conflict-ridden country. French President Emmanuel Macron has organised the talks but his office has stressed that it has modest expectations of the meeting to be held … Read more
Anger was growing in Pakistan Tuesday as the grief-stricken relatives of 26 people killed by a suicide bomber in Lahore a day earlier buried their loved ones and demanded the government publicly hang the masterminds of the attack. Families and residents in the bustling eastern city demanded action as they attended funeral prayers, and as … Read more
Israel removed metal detectors from a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site before dawn on Tuesday and said they would no longer be used after their installation triggered deadly violence. The move came in the face of intensive international diplomacy seeking to stop wider Palestinian unrest, with Israel saying it would introduce subtler security measures instead … Read more
Thai authorities have frozen seven bank accounts belonging to ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra over a $1 billion fine she faces for her administration’s controversial rice subsidy scheme, her lawyer said Tuesday. The move is seen as unprecedented because it financially sanctions an elected leader for a government policy and it is the latest in a barrage … Read more
Ram Nath Kovind will be sworn in as India’s president Tuesday, becoming just the second leader from the oppressed Dalit community to be elected head of state. A former lawyer and state governor, Kovind won the largely ceremonial position last week with more than 65 percent of the vote by members of India’s parliament and … Read more
The Maldivian government Tuesday defended its controversial deployment of troops to block opposition legislators entering parliament, saying the move was part of security measures undertaken for a visiting dignitary. On Monday President Abdulla Yameen ordered troops to evict legislators and prevent the impeachment of his speaker, the opposition said, in the latest turmoil in the … Read more
India’s stock markets hit record highs on Tuesday with the National Stock Exchange’s much-watched Nifty index breaking the psychological 10,000 point mark for the first time as traders take heart from economic reforms. The Nifty, which consists of 50 of India’s top companies across more than a dozen sectors, rose 0.45 percent, or 44.90 points, … Read more
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday that New Zealand could expect to be one of the first nations to ink a trade deal with London once Brexit was finalised. Johnson, making his first visit to New Zealand, met Prime Minister Bill English for talks that covered trade, international security and Britain’s ties with its … Read more