Politics

DHAKA/WAM Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday and fled the country, Reuters quoted multiple sources as saying. Army chief General Waker-Us-Zaman said in a televised address that Hasina 76, had left the country and that an interim government would be formed. Student activists had called for a march to the capital Dhaka on Monday in defiance of a ...

COPENHAGEN/WAM Extreme heat kills over 175,000 people a year in Europe, where temperatures are rising quicker than the rest of the globe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday. In a statement, the WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge said, “The WHO European Region is the fastest-warming of the six WHO regions, with temperatures rising at ...

ABU DHABI/WAM The United Arab Emirates has welcomed the ceasefire announcement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, in North Kivu region, east of the DR Congo. Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, Minister of State, affirmed the deep-rooted historic ties between the UAE and the African continent, and commended the endeavours of the Republic ...

FUZHOU/WAM Typhoon Gaemi, the third typhoon of this year, has affected 766,900 residents in Fujian Province, resulting in direct economic losses exceeding 1.6 billion yuan (about US$224.35 million), Xinhua News Agency reported. By Sunday morning, Fujian had evacuated 312,700 people from hazardous areas and dispatched 2,763 rescue teams involving 69,400 people and 15,600 pieces of equipment, to carry out emergency ...

CARACAS/WAM Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has won a third term, the country’s electoral authority has said – despite several exit polls which had pointed to a decisive opposition win, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The Head of the National Electoral Council Elvis Amoroso said Maduro had secured 51% of the vote, beating his opponent Edmundo Gonzalez, who won 44%.

WASHINGTON/WAM US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would withdraw from the presidential race. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” ...

GENEVA/WAM COVID-19 is still killing around 1,700 people a week around the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday, urging those most at risk to continue receiving vaccinations against the virus. At a press conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern over declining vaccine coverage globally. Despite the continued death toll, “data show that vaccine coverage has declined ...

ABU DHABI/WAM Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs, called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, cross-border and cross-line access for humanitarian aid throughout Sudan, and a political process that leads to civilian transition. In a recent interview on CNNConnect, Nusseibeh called for urgent international action. “We need to see a scale-up of humanitarian aid. The ...

JAKARTA/WAM His Eminence Prof. Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders, emphasised that religions are a message of peace, and described Islam as a unifying force among civilisations, citing its historical role in fostering human brotherhood. The remarks were delivered at a reception hosted by the Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama Association, the world’s ...

HOUSTON/WAM Tropical Storm Beryl brought howling winds and torrential rain to southeast Texas on Monday, killing at least three people, flooding highways, closing oil ports, cancelling more than 1,300 flights and knocking out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses, Reuters reported. Beryl, the season’s earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, weakened from a hurricane after pounding the ...