British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his rival, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, kicked off their election campaigns on Thursday, each arguing that only they can snap the country out of its economic and political malaise. Sunak, whose Conservative Party has trailed Labour by around 20 percentage points in opinion polls since he became PM in October 2022, shocked and …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the UN Security Council to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable, halt the supply of weapons to them, and impose political and legal consequences on the states and individuals responsible for these crimes. During a Security Council debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, Pakistan also called for the protection of civilians under …

TRAVELLERS to Saudi Arabia holding visit visas will not be allowed to enter the holy city of Makkah during the Haj season, according to the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior. In a statement, the ministry said the ban would remain in force from May 23 to June 21. Foreigners currently in Saudi Arabia on visit visas have been requested not to …

BEIJING: A furious China launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”, sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te. The exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands beside the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai …

TORONTO: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said Canada is “prepared to recognise the state of Palestine at the right time — not necessarily as the last step along the path.” Trudeau’s statement came in response to a challenge from New Democratic Party (NDP) MP and foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson in the House of Commons, as she urged him …

PARIS: A mind-boggling number of shining galaxies, a purple and orange star nursery and a spiral galaxy similar to our Milky Way: new images were revealed from Europe’s Euclid space telescope on Thursday. It is the second set of images released by the European Space Agency since Euclid launched last year on the first-ever mission to investigate the mysteries of dark matter …

UNITED NATIONS: Countries at the United Nations’ General Assembly voted on Thursday to observe an annual day of remembrance, for the Srebrenica genocide in 1995. The vote went ahead, despite furious opposition from Bosnian Serbs and Serbia. The resolution was authored by Germany and Rwanda, which were two countries synonymous with genocide in the 20th century. The vote received 84 votes in-favor, …

TORONTO: The son of Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the men accused of having a role in the 1985 Air India bombing, has been officially warned by the national police service of Canada that his life could be under threat, CBC News reported. Hardeep Malik, a businessman in Surrey, British Col­umbia, is the son of Ripudaman, who was acquitted in 2005 of …

WASHINGTON: A proposal to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of the US Congress has raised hackles among Democrats, with some key Democratic leaders urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to abstain from endorsing the invitation. Democrats hold the Senate majority while Republicans dominate the House of Representatives. Most liberal Democrats and progressives have already …

GAZA STRIP: Israel launched devastating air strikes on Gaza early Thursday while also saying it is ready to resume stalled talks on a truce and prisoner release deal with Hamas to pause the war raging since October 7. Israeli forces killed at least 50 Palestinians in aerial and ground bombardments across the Gaza Strip, health officials and Hamas media said. …