International

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter Inc’s stock inched closer to Elon Musk’s $54.20 per share buyout offer for the micro-blogging site on Wednesday, signaling that investors finally expect the deal to go through ahead of a court deadline at the end of this week. Shares of the social media company were last up 0.3pc at a near seven-month high of $52.94, the …

ROME: Italy’s coastguard said on Wednesday it had rescued more than 1,000 migrants from two fishing boats in the Mediterranean overnight, while two bodies had been recovered. The two “complex” operations off the coast of Syracuse in Sicily, involving boats from Libya, followed an alert on Tuesday from Alarm Phone, a group running a hotline for migrants needing rescue. From …

ARSAL: Hundreds of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon returned home on Wednesday, the first day of repatriations organised by Beirut, amid concerns from rights groups that the scheme may involve elements of coercion. Lugging suitcases, power generators, fridges and even chickens, around 700 Syrians who had agreed to cross over gathered from early morning in a desolate northeastern border zone. …

TOKYO: The United States, Japan and South Korea warned on Wednesday that an “unparalleled” scale of response would be warranted if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear bomb test. Washington and its allies believe North Korea could be about to resume nuclear bomb testing for the first time since 2017. “We agreed that an unparalleled scale of response would be …

LONDON: Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday delayed the announcement of a keenly awaited plan for repairing the country’s public finances until Nov 17, two-and-a-half weeks later than previously planned. The postponement, Sunak’s first policy decision since taking over from Liz Truss on Tuesday, briefly raised British borrowing costs in financial markets but there was no repeat of …

President Xi Jinping said China and the United States must “find ways to get along” to safeguard world peace and development, state media reported on Thursday, as he embarks on his precedent-breaking third term in power. China and the United States have butted heads in recent years on issues ranging from Beijing’s aggression towards self-governing Taiwan to its crackdown in …

President Joe Biden got an updated Covid-19 vaccine booster shot Tuesday and urged Americans to follow his example ahead of winter, saying no one need die anymore from the once devastating virus. Biden, 79, contracted the coronavirus three months ago with mild symptoms and already received a second booster for the vaccine at the end of March. His updated shot, …

Five Palestinians were killed and another was killed later after Israeli security forces raided the flashpoint city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank early on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Shards of glass and scrap metal covered the cobblestone streets of the Old City of Nablus as shopkeepers tried to clear the debris in the aftermath of the raid which …

Britain’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said on Tuesday he would try to fix the mess left by his predecessor, restore faith in politics and tackle a “profound economic crisis” but warned the country there would be difficult decisions. Standing in front of his new Downing Street office, Sunak paid tribute to Liz Truss, whose economic programme roiled the markets, …

WASHINGTON: Left-wing US lawmakers on Tuesday withdrew a letter that appealed to President Joe Biden to negotiate with Russia, saying they were not joining Republicans who question support for Ukraine. Days before congressional elections, Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, took responsibility and said that staff released the letter on Monday that had been drafted months ago …