International

WASHINGTON: Senior US and Israeli officials held a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, opposed by Washington. President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to conduct a large-scale offensive in Rafah to avoid more civilian casualties among the Palestinian population in Gaza. White …

YANGON: More than 800 people suspected of being cross-border scammers were arrested in a joint police operation by Myanmar and China, Beijing’s embassy in Yangon said on Monday. Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar, staffed by citizens from China and other countries who are often forced to work swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions. Beijing …

UNITED NATIONS: The Palestinian Authority wants the United Nations Security Council to vote this month to make it a full member of the world body, the Palestinian UN envoy said on Monday, a move that can be blocked by Israel’s ally the United States. Riyad Mansour, who has permanent observer status in the UN, made the Palestinian plans public as …

WASHINGTON: The mysterious so-called Havana Syndrome symptoms experienced by US diplomats in recent years have been linked to a Russian intelligence unit, according to a joint media investigation released on Monday. Havana Syndrome was first reported in 2016 when US diplomats in Cuba’s capital reported falling ill and hearing piercing sounds at night, sparking speculation of an attack by a …

ISTANBUL: Turks dealt President Tayyip Erdogan and his party their biggest electoral blow in a nationwide local vote that reasserted the opposition as a political force and reinforced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as the president’s chief rival. With most of the votes counted, Imamoglu led by 10 percentage points in the mayoral race in Istanbul, Turkiye’s largest city, while his …

GAZA STRIP: Charred buildings and a rubble strewn expanse littered with bodies were all that was left of the Al-Shifa hospital complex on Monday, after Israeli forces ended a two-week offensive at what used to be Gaza’s largest medical facility. The health ministry in Gaza said that after heavy Israeli air strikes and tank fire, “the scale of the destruction …

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou headed to China on Monday for what he called a “journey of peace” aimed at cooling cross-strait tensions. Speaking to reporters at the airport before his departure, Ma described his trip to China as ‘a journey of peace and a journey of friendship’. China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has …

DAMASCUS: A part of Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital was flattened on Monday by what was described as an Israeli air strike, a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies. The Israeli air strikes destroyed the Iranian embassy’s consular annex, killing and wounding everyone inside, Damascus said as …

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday condemned a deadly air strike blamed on Israel against his country’s consular annex in Damascus, saying the “cowardly crime will not go unanswered”. “After repeated defeats and failures against the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put blind assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself,” Raisi said …

LIMA: Peru’s prosecutor’s office on Sunday ordered President Dina Boluarte to present any Rolex watches in her possession, after a raid on her home and office as part of a corruption probe. Boluarte, 61, is being investigated for illegal enrichment and failing to declare several luxury watches which she has been spotted wearing since coming to power in 2022, following …