Dubai: It was January 2016 and oil prices had crashed to their lowest in more than a decade. Saudi Arabia’s health minister, Khalid al-Falih, a favourite to take over the oil ministry from his mentor Ali al-Naimi, was not panicking. Falih told an audience of oil executives, bankers and policymakersRead More

Cairo: The Islamic State group’s Egyptian branch claimed on Sunday a shooting that killed eight policemen south of Cairo, in a statement circulated on social media. Gunmen shot dead eight plain clothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of Cairo, the interior ministry said Sunday. The policemen were travellingRead More

Madrid: Three Spanish freelance journalists kidnapped in Syria some 10 months ago were due to fly back to be reunited with their families on Sunday, a day after their release. The trio — Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre — were last seen in July 2015 in theRead More

Rome: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged European leaders to protect EU borders or risk a “return to nationalism” as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. As Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi kicked off two days of talks in Rome with Merkel and seniorRead More

Islamabad: Former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s alleged threatening call to ex-premier Benazir Bhutto in 2007 could not be traced, according to the joint investigation team probing her assassination. During cross-examination by Barrister Farogh Nasim, Musharraf’s counsel, in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi, joint investigation team (JIT) chief Mohammad KhalidRead More

Washington: House Speaker Paul Ryan is refusing to support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president, insisting Thursday that the businessman must do more to unify the GOP. The surprise declaration from Ryan on CNN’s “The Lead” amounted to a stunning rebuke of Trump from the Republican Party’s highest-rankingRead More

Pyongyang: North Korea will on Friday launch its highest-level ruling party meeting in almost 40 years, with delegates set to heap praise on its nuclear arsenal as a “precious sword” amid fears of a fresh atomic test. Leader Kim Jong-Un, who was not even born when the last Workers’ PartyRead More

Amman: A cessation of hostilities brokered by Russia and the United States brought a measure of relief to Aleppo on Thursday but fighting raged nearby and President Bashar al-Assad said he still sought total victory over rebels in Syria. Syrian state media said the army would abide by a “regimeRead More

Stockholm: A black woman who stood up to 300 neo-Nazis in Sweden hopes her gesture will draw attention to the fight against racism in the Scandinavian country. Tess Asplund tried to block the path of the Nordic Resistance Movement as the right-wing extremist group marched in the town of BorlangeRead More

Washington: The US Congress has initiated a move to block $450 million in aid to Pakistan for failing to “demonstrate its commitment” and taking action against the Haqqani terror network. The provision in the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2017, if passed by the Congress, wouldRead More