RAMALLAH: Israeli troops raided two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank’s north overnight, the military told AFP, as Israel presses offensives on multiple fronts. The military told AFP that at “around 4:00 am Israeli forces entered Balata camp”, near the northern city of Nablus, for “a routine counter-terrorism operation”. It added that the…
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Donald Trump that the ceasefire between New Delhi and Pakistan last month was worked out directly between the arch-rivals, a top Indian diplomat said Wednesday. The US president had said that the two nuclear-armed neighbours had agreed to end a four-day conflict on May 10 after “a…
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday Iran had the “legitimate” right to defend itself in the face of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign, now in its sixth day. “It is a very natural, legitimate and legal right for Iran to defend itself against Israel’s thuggery and state terrorism,“ the Turkish leader said, a day…
WASHINGTON: WhatsApp said it was “concerned” that its services would be blocked in Iran after a state broadcaster urged the public to delete the messaging app, saying it was sharing data with arch-rival Israel. State television IRIB appealed to Iranians on Tuesday to delete WhatsApp from their phones, alleging that the app collected users’ personal…
VIENNA: Two buildings housing manufacturing sites for centrifuge components for Iran’s nuclear programme have been destroyed at Karaj, just outside the capital Tehran, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday. The UN agency’s announcement came hours after Israel’s military said it had carried out a series of air strikes in and around Tehran. “The IAEA…
NEW DELHI: Indian commandos shot dead three Maoist rebels Wednesday, police said, including a suspected top commander, less than a month after the insurgent group’s chief was killed. India is waging an all-out offensive against the last vestiges of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the Himalayan foothills where the Maoist-inspired movement began…
MOSCOW: Russia’s army said Wednesday that its forces had captured another village in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, where Moscow has stepped up its offensive in recent weeks. The Russian troops captured Novomykolaivka in Sumy, a settlement around four kilometres (two miles) from the Ukraine-Russia border, the defence ministry said on Telegram. The advance of Moscow’s…
BRUSSELS: Chinese online giant AliExpress must do more to protect consumers from illegal product sales, the European Commission said Wednesday in an interim finding that could open the way to heavy fines. While noting some progress, “the Commission preliminarily found AliExpress in breach of its obligation to assess and mitigate risks related to the dissemination…
TOKYO: Sweltering temperatures prompted heatstroke alerts in multiple Japanese regions on Wednesday, with dozens of people seeking emergency medical care in the capital Tokyo. The hot weather was headline news in the country, which last year experienced its joint warmest summer ever as climate change fuelled extreme heatwaves around the globe. Record temperatures were logged…
While Moscow has talked up its partnership with Iran, the deal does not require Russia to come to Iran’s military aid When Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, officials in Russia described the current escalation in the Middle East as “alarming” and “dangerous.” Still, Russian media were quick to stress the potential positives for Moscow. Among…
