Author: Disha Mishra

BEIRUT, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel’s war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria. 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, 2023. None of the political groups in the 128-seat parliament have enough seats to impose their choice, and they have so far been unable to agree on a consensus candidate. The vote marks…

HONG KONG/TAIPEI Jan 8 (Reuters) – The Chinese director of a firm whose vessel Taiwan suspects of having damaged an undersea communications cable said on Wednesday there was no evidence the ship was involved, an incident that has alarmed the government in Taipei. Taiwan’s coast guard said it sent a ship to investigate a report on Friday from telecoms provider Chunghwa Telecom that an undersea communications cable had been damaged off the island’s north coast. Arriving at the scene it found the Chinese-crewed “Shunxin 39”, registered both in Cameroon and Tanzania, which it requested to return to port in Taiwan…

CAIRCAIRO, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed at least 22 people on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said, as the U.S. stepped up efforts to overcome sticking points between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire to end the war. One of the airstrikes killed at least 10 people in a multi-storey house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday, while another killed five in the nearby Zeitoun suburb, medics said. In Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering, an Israeli airstrike killed three other people. In Jabalia,…

(Reuters) – The suspected driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day used popular chatbot ChatGPT to plan the blast, officials told reporters on Tuesday. The suspect used ChatGPT to try and work out how much explosive was needed to trigger the blast, officials said. Authorities last week identified the person found dead inside the Cybertruck as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, an active-duty Army soldier from Colorado Springs, and said he acted alone. The FBI says the incident appeared to be a case of suicide. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police…

(Reuters) – A New York appellate court on Tuesday denied President-elect Donald Trump’s bid to halt sentencing set for Friday for his conviction on criminal charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star. Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer of the Appellate Division, a mid-level state appeals court, made the decision after holding a hearing on Trump’s last-ditch effort to block the trial judge’s ruling on Monday to proceed with the sentencing, scheduled for 10 days before his inauguration. In his Monday ruling, Justice Juan Merchan rejected a request from Trump’s lawyers to delay the sentencing while they appealed two…

NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump asked a New York appellate court on Tuesday to throw out his conviction on criminal charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, and to dismiss the case before his scheduled Friday sentencing. The request to the Appellate Division, a mid-level state appeals court, represented a last-ditch effort by Trump to block the trial judge’s ruling on Monday to proceed with the sentencing, scheduled for 10 days before his inauguration. In that ruling, Justice Juan Merchan rejected a request from Trump’s lawyers to delay the sentencing while they…

AMMAN, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Jordan and Syria have agreed to form a joint security committee to secure their border, combat arms and drug smuggling and work to prevent the resurgence of Islamic State militants, the Jordanian foreign minister said on Tuesday. Western anti-narcotics officials say the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant known as captagon has for years been mass-produced in Syria and that Jordan is a transit route to the oil-producing Gulf states. Jordan’s army has conducted several pre-emptive airstrikes in Syria since 2023 that Jordanian officials say targeted militias accused of links to the drug trade, as well as the…

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Hamas stood by its demand on Tuesday that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release hostages, and said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be “hell to pay” unless they go free by his Jan. 20 inauguration. Officials from the Islamist group and Israel have been holding talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in the most intensive effort for months to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. The outgoing U.S. administration has called for a final push for a deal before Joe Biden leaves office, and many…

DUBAI, Jan 7 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has discussed with Israel and the United States participating in a provisional administration of post-war Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to take charge, according to people familiar with the talks. The behind-the-scenes discussions, reported by Reuters for the first time, included the possibility of the UAE and the United States, along with other nations, temporarily overseeing the governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza after the Israeli military withdraws and until a Palestinian administration is able to take over, a dozen foreign diplomats and Western officials told Reuters. The…

A mass shooting in Queens, New York City, left ten people injured late on New Year’s Day, according to a statement from the New York Police Department during a briefing early Thursday, as reported by Reuters. Police reported, the injured in the incident outside a private events club late on Wednesday evening included six females and four males and all injured are expected to recover, as per reuters report. The incident took place when 3-4 males opened fire toward a crowd outside the club, according to the NYPD, quoted by Reuters. social media users expressing their shock at the incident…