LONDON: The UK government has appointed Blaise Metreweli as the first-ever woman to head its MI6 spy service as the country faces “threats on an unprecedented scale”, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Sunday. The MI6 Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) achieved global fame through Ian Fleming’s fictional agent James Bond. Metreweli will be the 18th…
STOCKHOLM: Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernise their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, researchers warned Monday. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said nuclear powers including the United States and Russia — which account for around 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had…
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Iran and Israel — who are locked in an exchange of military strikes — to “make a deal,“ but suggested they might need to “fight it out” first. “I think it’s time for a deal,“ Trump told reporters, as Israel and Iran exchanged a fresh barrage of…
JERUSALEM: Israel and Iran traded heavy fire for a third straight day on Sunday, with mounting casualties and expanding targets marking a sharp escalation in hostilities between the longtime foes. Strikes in both countries persisted throughout the day, as the death rose following Israel’s large-scale attacks on Friday aimed at crippling Iran’s nuclear and military…
BERLIN: Germany said Sunday it is reinforcing security around Israeli and Jewish sites on its territory against possible reprisal attacks by Iran, locked in a conflict with Israel. “We are also preparing ourselves in Germany in case Iran targets Israeli or Jewish institutions,“ Chancellor Friedrich Merz said before flying out to attend a G7 summit…
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Iran would pay “a very heavy price” for killing Israeli civilians, as the two foes kept up intense fighting. “Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,“ Netanyahu said during a visit to the site of a missile…
ROME: An American man was arrested on the Greek island of Skiathos accused of murdering an infant whose body was found in a park in Rome earlier this month, Italian police said Sunday. The man was arrested Friday by Greek police collaborating with Italian authorities under a European warrant, Italian police said in a statement….
ABIDJAN: A minibus and a truck violently collided in southern Ivory Coast, killing at least 14 people including an infant, local sources said Sunday. The collision happened Saturday near the town of Agboville, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Abidjan, the economic capital, said the Ivorian news agency AIP, citing emergency services. Eighteen people…
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency said 16 people were killed in Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory on Sunday, most of them while waiting for aid. The first responders agency’s teams transported the bodies of 16 people killed by Israeli fire in various part of the Palestinian territory, spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP….
BAGHDAD: Two drones launched from Iran towards Israel were shot down over Iraq by the US-led international coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, two Iraqi military officials told AFP on Sunday. “The international coalition at Ain al-Asad (military base) shot down two Iranian drones that were en route to Israel,“ one official said, referring…
