International

MARJAYOUN: From his office overlooking the border with Israel, Dr Mounes Klakesh can hear the thump of artillery rounds and air strikes landing on nearby Lebanese towns. The increasing frequency of those strikes has the staff of his small hospital on edge. “We’ve already had to treat 51 people wounded by explosions in the last month or so. Seventeen of …

WASHINGTON: US public support for Israel’s assault in Gaza is eroding and most Americans think Israel should call a ceasefire to a crisis that has ballooned into a humanitarian catastrophe, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Some 32 per cent of respondents in the two-day opinion poll, which closed on Tuesday, said “the US should support Israel” when asked what …

GAZA: An Israeli army operation in Gaza’s biggest medical facility on Wednesday set off a wave of international condemnation, with even Tel Aviv’s staunchest supporters criticising the move, as the World Health Oragni­sation said it had lost contact with staff at the hospital. Israeli forces pushed into Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital — a sprawling complex of buildings and courtyards — …

DOHA: Qatari mediators were on Wednesday seeking to negotiate a deal between Hamas and Israel that includes the release of around 50 prisoners from Gaza in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations said. The deal, under discussion, which has been coordinated with the US, would also see Israel release some Palestinian women and children from …

LONDON: With a massive pro-Palestine demonstration taking place outside parliament, UK’s House of Commons voted on Wed­nesday on a divisive amendment calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with nearly 70 Labour MPs going against the party leadership. However, both motions on Gaza were defeated, as majority MPs voted against them. The Labour motion on Gaza called for a humanitarian …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had their first face-to-face meeting near San Francisco on Wednesday and both underscored the need to re-engage and de-escalate tensions. In his opening remarks, President Biden stressed the need to prevent competition from escalating into conflict while President Xi emphasised that turning backs on each other was not an …

Rescue workers renewed efforts on Thursday to reach 40 men trapped inside a collapsed highway tunnel in India for the fifth day, making slow progress as they began drilling through rock and soil debris. Authorities said they were confident an advanced drilling machine flown in from New Delhi will speed up the rescue at the site in the northern state of Uttarakhand. …

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at their first summit in a year on Wednesday to restore military communications between the two countries, even as Biden went off script by saying he still considered Xi a “dictator”. The leaders shook hands and strolled around a garden at a historic California estate during four-hour talks aimed at …

ISLAMABAD: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced the ‘Commission on Social Connection’ to address loneliness as a pressing health threat, promote social connection as a priority, and accelerate the scaling up of solutions. Senior Pakistani Advocate and Human Rights Defender Hina Jillani has also been nominated as one of the 11 commissioners from across the globe. The commission supported …

Denmark’s parliament on Tuesday will debate a bill to ban burnings of the Holy Quran, after a string of desecrations of the holy book sparked anger in Muslim countries. Nearly 1,000 protesters attempted to march to the Danish embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in late July, following a call by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr. Denmark’s government said the tensions posed a threat to …