ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Tuesday postponed Nato accession talks with Sweden and Finland, further denting the Nordic neighbours’ hopes of joining the Western defence alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A Turkish diplomatic source said the tri-party meeting has been pushed back from February to a “later date”, without providing further details. The decision further diminished […]
Seven people were killed in a mass shooting at two locations in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay on Monday, and the suspect was arrested after driving to a police parking lot, apparently attempting to turn himself in, officials said. The shooting in Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles (50 km) south […]
KYIV: Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv on a surprise trip on Sunday, meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and pledging that Britain would “stick by Ukraine as long as it takes”. Johnson, who left office in September in the wake of a series of scandals, was prime minister when Russia invaded Ukraine last February […]
The possibility of a big Covid-19 rebound in China over the next two or three months is remote as 80 per cent of people have been infected, a prominent government scientist said on Saturday. The mass movement of people during the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday period may spread the pandemic, boosting infections in some […]
People across China crowded into trains and buses for one of its busiest days of travel in years on Friday, feeding fears of new surges in a raging Covid-19 outbreak that officials say has hit its peak. In comments reported by state media late on Thursday, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said the virus was at […]
New Zealand, Jan 19: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on January 19 said she is stepping down as New Zealand’s leader and will not contest general elections set for October. Fighting back tears, Ms. Ardern told reporters in Napier that February 7 will be her last day in office. She will hold her seat as a […]
US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held “very productive” talks last week on semiconductor-related export controls on China, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday. The Biden administration in October published a sweeping set of export controls, including measures tightly restricting Chinese access to US chipmaking technology, as part of an […]
China’s population fell last year for the first time in six decades, a historic turn that is expected to mark the start of a long period of decline in its citizen numbers with profound implications for its economy and the world. The country’s National Bureau of Statistics reported a drop of roughly 850,000 people for […]
Passengers laden with luggage flocked to rail stations and airports in China’s megacities on Monday, heading to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holidays that health experts fear could intensify a raging Covid-19 outbreak in areas less equipped to handle it. After three years of strict anti-virus controls, China abruptly abandoned its “zero Covid” policy in […]
BEIRUT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Friday expressed hope that diplomatic ties between Tehran and Riyadh can be restored through dialogue between the two regional powers. Speaking on a visit to Lebanon, Amir-Abdollahian said he hoped diplomatic missions or embassies in Tehran and Riyadh will reopen within the framework of dialogue that should […]