Why the killing of a Lebanese party official has raised the specter of new sectarian strife BEIRUT: Almost five decades since the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990 began, reactions to the kidnap and subsequent murder this week of Pascal Suleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces, show the country’s fragile peace remains on a knife … Read more
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized again on Sunday, a Pentagon spokesman said, this time “for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” weeks after a previous stay he controversially kept secret. Austin effectively vanished from the public eye in late December and early January after suffering complications from treatment for a prostate … Read more
GAZA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to fly to Egypt on Tuesday as part of a Middle East crisis tour seeking a new truce and “an enduring end” to the Israel-Hamas war.In Cairo, Blinken is scheduled to met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the day after he held talks in Riyadh with … Read more
How to strike back after deadly drone attack? US has many options, but must weigh consequence WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden has made it clear the US will strike back after a deadly drone attack killed three service members and wounded more than 40 at a small base in Jordan over the weekend. What isn’t yet … Read more
WASHINGTON: The White House Medical Unit during the Trump administration provided prescription drugs, including controlled substances, to ineligible staff and spent tens of thousands of dollars more on brand-name drugs than what generic equivalents would have cost, a Pentagon report shows. The unit, part of the White House Military Office, did not comply with federal … Read more
Haley vows to stay in GOP race as Trump seeks commanding victory in New Hampshire MANCHESTER, N.H.: Nikki Haley, the last major GOP opponent of Donald Trump, insisted she would not drop out if she loses Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary to the former president, who aimed for a commanding victory to make a November rematch … Read more
‘Grander than the Taj Mahal’: Building of Muhammad bin Abdullah Mosque to begin in May MAKKAH: Haji Arfat Shaikh, the head of the development committee at the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation and chair of the Maharashtra State Minority Commission, said construction of the Muhammad bin Abdullah Mosque will begin in Dhannipur in Ayodhya district on … Read more
WASHINGTON: Both the White House and Pentagon said Monday they would look into why President Joe Biden and other top officials weren’t informed for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized. A Pentagon spokesman pointed to one reason: A key staffer was out sick with the flu.Even as the Biden administration pledged to … Read more
Year in review: Too many crises to keep count of in Africa’s Sahel belt as 2023 comes to a close NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania: With world attention riveted on the war raging in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, conflicts elsewhere, particularly the violence in Sudan and instability across the Sahel, are in danger … Read more
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and one other warship to remain in the Mediterranean Sea for several more weeks to maintain a two-carrier presence near Israel as its war with Hamas grinds on, US officials said. It would be the third time the Ford’s deployment has … Read more