RAMALLAH: Gaza rulers Hamas and their rivals in the occupied West Bank, Fatah, have agreed to hold Palestinian elections after nearly 15 years, officials from both sides told AFP on Thursday. Parliamentary and presidential polls will be scheduled within six months under a deal reached between Fatah’s leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas political chief Ismail […]
Beijing: China’s two aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong have completed routine training and sea trials, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence said on Thursday. The training was aimed at testing the performance of the aircraft carriers’ weapons and equipment, improving the training level of such warships and honing the capabilities of personnel to […]
United Nations: India has termed as “completely unacceptable” references to Jammu and Kashmir by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his address to the high-level debate at the UN General Assembly, saying Ankara should learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply. “We have seen remarks by […]
RIYADH: From scrubbing hate-filled school textbooks to a taboo-defying religious sermon, Saudi Arabia is pushing for another kind of normalisation after declining to establish formal relations with Israel — co-existence with Jews. Saudi Arabia has said it will not follow its allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in establishing diplomatic relations without a resolution […]
Dubai:Two oil-rich Arab Gulf states suffered severe economic blows on Wednesday, as a major credit agency downgraded Kuwait for the first time and the United Arab Emirates acknowledged its economy would contract to a level last seen in 2009. The agency, Moody’s Investors Service, cut Kuwait’s debt rating and sounded the alarm that its liquid […]
Washington: The US claimed that all pre-2015 UN sanctions against Iran had been restored, a unilateral effort ignored by the international community. In a statement on Saturday night, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the sanctions were being re-imposed according to the “snapback” mechanism under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 […]
UNITED NATIONS: The virtual edition of the United Nations General Assembly will see a record number of Heads of State and Government address the high-level week through pre-recorded video statements, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said. This year, for the first time in the UN’s 75-year history, Heads of State and Government will not be […]
Washington: US President Donald Trump will not attend in-person the landmark 75th annual UN General Assembly session next week, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has said. The annual session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) commenced on September 15 amid the devastating coronavirus pandemic, with world leaders set to meet virtually for the […]
LONDON: The emergencies chief of the World Health Organization says scientific disagreements over COVID-19 interventions — like masks and vaccines — shouldn’t be treated as “some kind of political football,” but acknowledged that “it isn’t easy for everyone to be on message all the time.” Asked to respond to the open disagreements between U.S. President […]
MOSCOW: Russia said on Thursday it would be a “mistake” to think lasting peace in the Middle East could be secured without resolving the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. The foreign ministry statement came after Israel normalised relations with long-time foes Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates at the White House on Tuesday. Russia said it noted “progress” […]