ANTANANARIVO – A mutinied army unit declared Sunday that it was taking control of all Madagascar military forces as President Andry Rajoelina said an “attempt to seize power illegally” was underway. The CAPSAT contingent of administrative and technical officers joined thousands of protesters in the city centre on Saturday in a major shift in a...
SHARM EL SHEIKH – Israel and Hamas yesterday agreed a ceasefire deal to free the living hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Hamas will release 20 living hostages in one go as part of the first phase of the deal, according to a source close to the Hamas negotiating...
MOSCOW – Russia yesterday said that momentum towards reaching a peace deal in Ukraine had largely vanished following Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s presidential summit in Alaska, dimming hopes for a quick end to the three-and-a-half year war. The two leaders met at an air base in the Alaskan city of Anchorage in August, but...
DUBAI – Israeli defence companies have been barred from the upcoming Dubai Airshow after a “technical review”, its organiser said yesterday, without providing further details, two years into the devastating Gaza war. Registrations were withdrawn for all six Israeli defence companies that were due to take part, said Tim Hawes, managing director of Informa Markets,...
MBABANE – Ten more developing country nationals deported from the United States were jailed in Eswatini yesterday, the government said, as part of a US scheme to expel undocumented migrants. Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have in recent months accepted US deportees as part of the scheme, which has been criticised by rights groups....
CAIRO – Hamas yesterday called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel as negotiators from the two warring sides meet in Egypt for crucial talks aimed at ending the nearly two-year war. Foreign ministers of several countries, including Egypt, said the talks were a “real opportunity” to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable...
WASHINGTON – Efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed Wednesday as Democrats in Congress went home without resolving a funding stand-off with President Donald Trump and the White House threatened public sector jobs. Federal funding expired at midnight after Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on,...
ISTANBUL – The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office yesterday announced that it had opened an investigation after Israeli forces arrested Turkish citizens on board a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying activists and humanitarian aid. The probe concerns “24 Turkish citizens arrested following the attack carried out by elements of the Israeli navy in international waters against the Global...
GRAND BLANC (USA) – A man opened fire in a Mormon church in Michigan and set the building ablaze on Sunday, killing at least four people in the latest deadly tragedy that US president Donald Trump called part of a national “epidemic of violence.” Police in the northern US state said the shooter first rammed...
DOUALA – Cameroon’s elderly president Paul Biya was absent from the country on Sunday as campaigning kicked into high gear for 12 October polls to decide who will fill his position. The 92-year-old – the world’s oldest head of state, in power since 1982 – is seeking an eighth term in office. But he left...