Storm clouds pass over the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Jan 23, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP) WASHINGTON – The US Congress cannot support the $20 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye until Ankara ratifies the NATO memberships of Sweden and Finland, a bipartisan group of senators said on Thursday. Sweden and Finland […]
Former justice minister Cho Kuk arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Feb 3, 2023. (PHOTO / AP) SEOUL – A disgraced former South Korean politician, Cho Kuk, was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday for forging documents to facilitate his children's school admissions in a scandal that has […]
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif listens at the start of a Pakistan's Resilience to Climate Change conference in Geneva on Jan 9, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP) ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday the International Monetary Fund was giving his country a tough time over unlocking stalled funding from a $6.5 billion […]
In this Feb 23, 2017 file photo, storage tanks for contaminated water stand at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant of the Tokyo Electric Power Company in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. (PHOTO / POOL / AP) TOKYO – The Pacific island country of Micronesia, one of the fiercest critics of a Japanese decision […]
In this file photo dated Dec 16, 2021, a man walks past a portrait of medical workers near a COVID-19 test center in Sydney, Australia. (PHOTO / XINHUA) CANBERRA — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that health reform would be the top priority for himself and state and territory leaders this year. […]
An Afghan woman is checked by a nutritionist at a clinic run by the WFP, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan 26, 2023. A spokesman for the UN food agency says malnutrition rates in Afghanistan are at record highs. (PHOTO / AP) UNITED NATIONS — Under pressure from Afghanistan's Taliban administration, the United Nations is delivering some […]
In this March 22, 2016, file photo, the United States flag flies inside of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Camp VI at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Majid Khan, a Pakistani man who has described in graphic detail his torture by the Central Intelligence Agency in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001, […]
Syria's permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Milad Atiyeh speaks during a press conference in Damascus, Syria on Feb 2, 2023. (PHOTO / AP) DAMASCUS – Syria on Thursday rejected a recent report by an intergovernmental chemical watchdog that accuses the Syrian forces of a chemical attack near Damascus […]
People buy food sold at low prices by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, in Ankara, on Feb 2, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP) ANKARA – Türkiye summoned ambassadors of nine Western countries including the United States and Sweden on Thursday to criticize their decisions to temporarily shut diplomatic missions and issue security alerts following Koran-burning incidents in […]
In this March 22, 2016, file photo, the United States flag flies inside of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Camp VI at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Majid Khan, a Pakistani man who has described in graphic detail his torture by the Central Intelligence Agency in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001, […]
A general view shows Shwedagon pagoda during the Thingyan water festival, marking the Buddhist new year, in Yangon on April 13, 2022. (STR / AFP) YANGON – Myanmar's State Administration Council has declared martial law in 37 towns of four regions and four states in the Southeast Asian country. According to the council's orders issued […]
Syria's permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Milad Atiyeh speaks during a press conference in Damascus, Syria on Feb 2, 2023. (PHOTO / AP) DAMASCUS – Syria on Thursday rejected a recent report by an intergovernmental chemical watchdog that accuses the Syrian forces of a chemical attack near Damascus […]
In this Feb 1, 2023 photo, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a joint news conference with Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu during their meeting in Tallinn, Estonia. Norway reversed its permission for a protest involving Quran burning after a warning from Türkiye, Cavusoglu said on Feb 2, 2023. (PHOTO / AP) ANKARA – […]
This file photo dated April 10, 2021 that was provided by the Iranian presidential office, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi listens as the country's president (not pictured) delivers a speech on Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day, in the capital Tehran. Kamalvandi said in Tehran on Feb 2, […]
Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan meets with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Feb 2, 2023 in the first official visit by a top Israeli diplomat to Khartoum. (PHOTO / AFP) KHARTOUM — Israel and Sudan have finalised a deal to normalize relations, with a signing ceremony expected following a transfer of power from […]
This still image obtained from an eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military site in Isfahan, Iran, on Jan 29, 2023. (PHOTO / POOL / WANA VIA REUTERS) DUBAI – Iran blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military factory near the central city of […]
Protesters hold copies of the Koran in front of the Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul on Jan 22, 2023, after Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line and who also has Swedish citizenship burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. (PHOTO / AFP) ANKARA – Türkiye's […]
Women light candles during a prayer ceremony for victims of the Jan 30, 2023 suicide bombing inside a mosque, in Peshawar, Pakistan on Feb 1, 2023. Pakistani police have identified the suicide bomber. (PHOTO / AP) ISLAMABAD – The suicide bomber who killed more than 100 people at a mosque in a police compound in […]
People wearing face masks cross a street in Tokyo on Jan 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP) TOKYO – Japan's crime rate increased for the first time in 20 years in 2022, as relaxed COVID-19 regulations may have led to a rise in instances of street crime, the police said in a report on Thursday. According […]
In this handout photo released by Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev (right) and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi hold signed documents during their meeting at the Samarkand Congress Center on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept […]
A handout photo dated Feb 1, 2023 shows the ROK and US Air Forces conducting a combined air training with F-35A fighters, B-1B strategic bombers, F-22 and F-35B fighters participating in the skies over the West Sea, in the ROK. (PHOTO / THE ROK DEFENSE MINISTRY VIA REUTERS) SEOUL – The Republic of Korea (ROK) […]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State (not in image) , on Jan 30, 2023 in Jerusalem. (PHOTO / AFP) JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must stay out of his government's push to overhaul the Israeli judicial system, the country's attorney-general said on Thursday. Netanyahu […]
This still image obtained from an eyewitness footage shows what is said to be the moment of an explosion at a military site in Isfahan, Iran, on Jan 29, 2023. (PHOTO / POOL / WANA VIA REUTERS) DUBAI – Iran blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military factory near the central city of […]
This handout from the Government of Western Australia's Department of Fire and Emergency Services taken and received on Feb 1, 2023 shows a radioactive capsule, which had fallen off a truck, after it was found along a desert highway south of Newman, Western Australia. (PHOTO / AFP) SYDNEY – A lost radioactive capsule found after […]
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (left) and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pose for photos prior to a meeting at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on Feb 2, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP) MANILA – The Philippines has granted the United States expanded access to its military bases, the countries said on Thursday. Enhanced Defense […]
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (third from left) and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (fourth from left) mix a Chinese New Year dish, yusheng, in Singapore on Monday. (PHOTO / REUTERS) The leaders of Malaysia and Singapore have met in the city-state as Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim continues to reach out to close […]
A car makes its way on a road damaged by a flash flood after heavy rain on the outskirts of Auckland on Feb 1, 2023. New Zealand's government on Feb 2, 2023 announced NZ$700,000 ($450,000) in additional funding to help rebuild flood-ravaged Auckland and other areas in the upper north island. (PHOTO / AP) WELLINGTON […]
This photo illustration taken in Hong Kong on Feb 2, 2023 shows the Australian $5 banknote. On the same day, Australia's central bank announced that it will erase the British monarch from its banknotes, replacing the late Queen Elizabeth II's image on its A$5 note with a design honoring Indigenous culture. (PHOTO / AFP) SYDNEY […]
Smoke rises during Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Feb 2, 2023. (PHOTO / REUTERS) GAZA – The Israeli military said it struck Gaza overnight on Thursday, hours after it intercepted a rocket launched from Gaza and following appeals from the United States for all sides to calm escalating violence in Israel and the occupied West […]
In this handout photo released by Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev (right) and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi hold signed documents during their meeting at the Samarkand Congress Center on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept […]