Author: Disha Mishra
(Reuters) – Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who has U.S. support and showing the weakened sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel. In a speech to the chamber, Aoun, 60, vowed to work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, drawing loud applause as lawmakers from Hezbollah — which runs its own military forces — sat still. He promised to rebuild south Lebanon and other parts of the country he said had been destroyed by Israel, and…
(Reuters) – Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party said late on Thursday it will choose a new leader on March 9 ahead of the 2025 elections for which polls show the party in a very weak position. The prime minister announced on Monday that he will step down in the coming months after nine years in power, bowing to pressure from lawmakers alarmed by the party’s miserable showing in pre-election polls. Trudeau said that he would stay on both as prime minister and Liberal leader until the party chooses a new chief. “After a robust and secure nation-wide…
Jan 10 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s sentencing in his New York criminal case on Friday closes out a series of prosecutions that he largely beat by retaking the U.S. presidency, though he is still fighting to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars for losses in civil lawsuits. Here is a look at the cases against the president-elect and where they stand ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. NEW YORK HUSH MONEY CASE Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump in March 2023 with illegally falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with a porn star. A jury…
(ANI) – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Thursday that space crafts in the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDex) mission have been put in a slow drift course to move closer to each other. In a post on X, ISRO said that they are expecting to reach initialisation conditions by January 10. “The drift has been arrested and spacecrafts put in a slow drift course to move closer to each other. By tomorrow, it is expected to reach initialisation conditions,” the ISRO said on X. https://twitter.com/isro/status/1877359114117885953 On Wednesday, ISRO postponed the SpaDex mission which was scheduled for Thursday, after…
(Forelines) – Pakistani passport has been ranked as one of the weakest globally, placing 103rd in the 2025 Henley Passport Index, marking a notable decline from its position last year, according to The News International. Pakistan shared its rank with Yemen this year, granting visa-free access to only 33 countries, a sharp contrast to the world’s most powerful passports. The Henley passport Index, which ranks the passports of 199 nations based on visa-free travel access, is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), as per The News International report. The passport ranking highlights a troubling reality…
CAIRO, Jan 9 (Reuters) – U.S. and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday. As talks continued in Qatar, the Israeli military carried out strikes across the enclave, killing at least 17 people on Thursday, Palestinian medics said. The deaths brought to 70 the number of people killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the territory’s health ministry. Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt are…
LOS ANGELES, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, after other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit. More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the fires, which have burned thousands of acres (hectares) since they began on Tuesday. “This firestorm is the big one,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a press conference after rushing back to the city, cutting short an official trip…
ROME, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed by Iran on Wednesday and returned home, three weeks after she was detained in Tehran during a reporting trip. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani were on hand to greet the 29-year-old as she flew back into Rome, highlighting the political importance attached to her case. Sala, a writer and podcaster, had been working with a regular journalist visa when she was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”. She was held three days after Iranian businessman…
KYIV, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Membership in NATO is the only credible long-term security guarantee Ukraine can receive against future Russian aggression, Finland’s top diplomat said on Wednesday. Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20 has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow’s invasion but also fears in Kyiv that a quick peace could come at a high price. Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have called for strong security guarantees from partners that would prevent Russia from rearming for a new attack. “I think in the long term the only credible security guarantee is…
(Reuters) – Lebanon’s parliament looks set to elect army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, three senior political sources said, ending a presidential vacuum which has persisted since 2022 and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The election marks the first test of Lebanon’s power balance since Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah emerged badly pummelled from last year’swar with Israel, and since its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December. The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022. None…