Authors withdraw from PEN America Literary Awards in protest against stance on Gaza DUBAI: Thirty authors and translators have signed an open letter to PEN America in which they declined, or withdrew their work from consideration for, the organization’s 2024 Literary Awards, in protest against its “failure to confront the genocide of the Palestinian people … Read more
Kabul: The Taliban’s hyper-reclusive supreme leader made a rare public appearance Wednesday, an Afghan government spokesman said, berating the international community in a speech for criticizing his rule.Hibatullah Akhundzada has made only a handful of public appearances since inheriting the leadership of the Taliban in 2016 and leading the movement back to power with the … Read more
LONDON: With bated breath, the world awaits Iran’s promised retaliation for last week’s suspected Israeli airstrike on its embassy annex in the Syrian capital Damascus. Whatever form Teheran’s revenge takes, there is mounting public fear it could trigger an all-out war. At least 16 people were reportedly killed in the April 1 attack, including two … Read more
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: American and Israeli negotiators were expected in Cairo over the weekend for a renewed push to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal in a war that has raged for nearly half a year.Ahead of the talks, US President Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to dial up … Read more
BEIRUT: An attack by the Daesh group killed at least 11 people hunting desert truffles in northern Syria on Sunday, a war monitor said, after the latest such incident. Between February and April each year, hundreds of impoverished Syrians risk their lives to forage for the delicacy in the vast Syrian desert — a known … Read more
TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday that Israel risked further global isolation if it attacks the Palestinian city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.Blinken met one-on-one with Netanyahu during a peace mission to the Middle East at a time of strain in relations over Israel’s … Read more
President Vladimir Putin basked in an election victory that was never in doubt, as officials said Monday that he had won his fifth term with a record number of votes, underlining the Russian leader’s total control of the country’s political system. After facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices, Putin was set to … Read more
DHAKA: Mohammad Hanif Pappu has spent his life painting film stars — first on posters and then on rickshaws, a moving medium that over the past few decades has earned him legendary fame in Dhaka. But it was only recently that he and his fellow craftsmen received global recognition, when the UN cultural agency, UNESCO, … Read more
LONDON: Five members of Britain’s elite SAS special forces unit have been arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes during a deployment to Syria. The allegations concern the killing about two years ago of a Daesh fighter who SAS soldiers believed was about to carry out an attack using a suicide vest. After the fighter was … Read more
UN envoy says ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Hamas committed sexual violence on Oct. 7 UNITED NATIONS: The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict said in a new report Monday that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack … Read more