JERUSALEM: While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss a counter proposal by Hamas for a ceasefire, the Israeli premier rejected the “bizarre demands” and ordered troops to “prepare to operate” in Rafah. However, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of “untold regional consequences” if the Israeli armed forces press on into the …

KABUL: The European Union Special Envoy for Afghanistan on Thursday said he was “slightly more optimistic” that progress could be made in discussions at a UN-convened meeting on the country this month. Tomas Niklasson addre­ssed a press conference at the end of a four-day trip to the Afghan capital, during which he met senior Taliban officials ahead of a gathering …

TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday sought to advance a deal to secure the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza in talks with Israeli moderates as he closed a Middle East tour without securing a pause in fighting. US officials had tempered expectations that Blinken would achieve a breakthrough during his fifth visit to the region …

PARIS: Earth has endured 12 months of temperatures 1.5C hotter than the pre-industrial era for the first time on record, Europe’s climate monitor said on Thursday, in what scientists called a “warning to humanity”. Storms, drought and fire have lashed the planet as climate change, supercharged by the naturally-occurring El Nino phenomenon, stoked record warming in 2023, making it likely …

NEW DELHI: Thousands of Hindus have been flocking to the site of India’s 17th century Gyanvapi mosque where priests have been allowed to say prayers from a cellar in the latest sectarian dispute over holy sites. A court ruled on Jan 31 that Hindu priests can use that part of the mosque in Varanasi, in India’s most populous state of …

BAGHDAD: Iraq on Thursday condemned a US air strike that killed a senior commander from a pro-Iran armed group accused of having been involved in attacks on American troops in the region. The US attack on Wednesday came after a wave of strikes on Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria last week following the killing of three American troops in …

ISLAMABAD: Expre­ssing satisfaction at the poll­ing exercise, a team of inter­national observers from the Commonwealth, who arrived in Islamabad to monitor the electoral process, on Thursday pla­yed down suspension of mobile cellular services in the country. During their visit to the Islamabad Model College for Boys F-8/4, in the morning, Commonwealth expe­rts observed that voters had exercised their right to …

SRINAGAR: Two Sikh workers were gunned down in India-held Kashmir, police said on Thursday. The officials said the two Sikh workers from India’s Punjab state were shot on Wednesday, with one of them dying on the spot and the other succumbing to wounds at hospital on Thursday morning. The shooting came as a grim reminder of the killing of Sikh …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has confused a European leader with a dead predecessor for the second time in a week, telling a campaign event he met Helmut Kohl four years after the German chancellor passed away. The 81-year-old’s gaffe late on Wednesday came days after he said he had spoken to long-dead French president Francois Mitterand, instead of current …

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Thursday expressed concern over election-related violence and restrictions on internet and cellular access in Pakistan on the polling day. At a daily news briefing, Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson, also underscored the importance of a transparent and unrestricted electoral process.     When asked if the United States would accept the results of …