Trump demands widespread sign-up to Abraham Accords as part of Iran peace deal – World
US President Donald Trump on Monday seemingly predicated an emerging Iran peace deal on Muslim-majority nations across the Middle East and beyond normalising relations with Israel. This brand new demand came on the heels of a potential memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran to end the war on all fronts and potentially […]
WHO chief says suspected Ebola deaths at 220 and ‘epidemic is outpacing us’ – World
World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that there had been 220 suspected deaths in the current Ebola outbreak and that a delay in detecting cases meant responders were now “playing catch-up”. “We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us,” Tedros said, adding that […]
Iran says progress on many issues with US but agreement not imminent – World
Iran said on Monday that Tehran and Washington had reached understandings on many issues in exchanges over a deal for ending the war, but warned an agreement was not imminent. “It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei […]
India orders migrant detention centres in West Bengal, sparking arbitrary explusion fears – World
India’s ruling Hindu-nationalist party has ordered detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in West Bengal state, sparking fear among minorities that it could lead to arbitrary expulsions. The directive comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power in the eastern state for the first time since the country’s […]
Haj begins as Middle East war’s trajectory hangs in the balance – World
Over 1.5 million Muslims began filling a vast tent city in Makkah on Monday for the annual Haj pilgrimage carried out against the backdrop of hopes for an end to the war in the Middle East. The white-robed pilgrims on buses or on foot arrived at the sprawling encampment in Mina after performing the tawaf. […]
PM Shehbaz meets Chinese counterpart in Beijing – World
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was welcomed on Monday at the Great Hall of the People, where he met his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang. PM Shehbaz landed in China on Saturday on a four-day official visit, reaching Beijing yesterday after making a stop in Hangzhou. The prime minister was presented with a guard of honour upon […]
‘Flurry of missiles’: Indian sailors risk work at sea as Middle East war grinds on – World
Born to landless Indian farmers, Sunil Pooniya thought a job at sea would be his ticket out of poverty, instead his first voyage saw him diving into the ocean to escape a deadly attack driven by the US-Israel war on Iran. For hundreds of thousands of Indians, merchant shipping jobs are a lucrative proposition despite […]
A century of unbroken chains in Sylhet tea gardens – World
ON the morning of May 20, 1921, approximately 30,000 tea workers left everything behind. Chanting Mulluke Cholo — “Let’s go to our homeland” — they left the tea gardens of Sylhet and began walking towards Meghna ghat in Chandpur, hoping to return to Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and the other lands from which they had been […]
Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists – World
MADRID: Around two thousand protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police’s treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel. When a relative of one of the six returning activists tried to approach them at Bilbao airport on […]
Malaysia prepared to take Israel to ICJ over treatment of Gaza flotilla activists
Kuala Lumpur will initiate proceedings once lawyers complete collection of information, supporting evidence The Malaysian government is prepared to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the alleged kidnapping and torture of activists from the Gaza-bound Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla, local media reported Monday. Amirudin Shari, Chief Minister of the Malaysian […]