BEIJING: At least eight people have been killed in an explosion at a biotech factory in northern China, state media reported on Sunday, revising the death toll upward by one. China’s state news agency Xinhua said the blast occurred on Saturday morning at the Jiapeng Biotech Company in Shanxi province. Earlier reports had put the…
MOSCOW: Russian authorities have arrested a man suspected of shooting and wounding senior military intelligence officer Vladimir Alekseyev, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday, adding that the suspect was detained in Dubai and extradited to Russia. According to the FSB, the suspect, a man in his 60s, fled to the United Arab Emirates…
LONDON/TORONTO/FRANKFURT: Swiss banking giant UBS opened accounts for Ghislaine Maxwell in 2014, just months after JPMorgan Chase severed ties with Jeffrey Epstein, and helped manage up to $19 million of her assets in the years preceding her sex-trafficking conviction, according to documents. The documents, released last month by the U.S. Justice Department, offer new details…
WASHINGTON: Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Will Lewis is stepping down from his role, the newspaper announced on Saturday, just days after carrying out sweeping layoffs across the organisation. In a message to staff, Lewis said he had taken “difficult decisions” during his tenure to secure the newspaper’s long-term sustainability and ensure it…
India has agreed to sharply reduce import tariffs on high-end American automobiles and remove duties on Harley-Davidson motorcycles under an interim trade agreement with the United States, according to an official familiar with the matter. However, electric vehicles have been excluded from the concessions, a decision that effectively leaves US EV maker Tesla outside the…
KANO, Nigeria: At least 51 people have been abducted and three killed in a series of attacks over the past three days across four villages in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State, security officials said on Saturday. The attacks occurred in the southern part of the state, a predominantly Christian region that has witnessed repeated waves of…
BEIJING: China vowed to further tighten its crackdown on virtual currencies on Friday and banned unauthorised offshore issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins. Authorities will also strictly vet offshore issuance of tokens backed by Chinese onshore assets, according to a notice published on the central bank’s website. Although the statement largely reiterates Beijing’s existing ban on cryptocurrency,…
TEHRAN: A fire erupted at a wood workshop located within the grounds of a military barracks in the Iranian capital on Friday, the army said in a statement. The blaze was contained and no injuries have been reported, the army added, as it blamed an electrical fault for the fire. The fire erupted at a…
Most people wouldn’t dream of leaving their phones behind, even for a short drive. However, NASA astronauts have had to do just that when traveling to work 250 miles away at the International Space Station—until now. In a post on X, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced that astronauts on the Crew-12 and Artemis II missions…
WASHINGTON: The White House is planning the first leaders meeting for President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” in relation to Gaza on February 19, Axios reported on Friday, citing a U.S. official and diplomats from four countries that are on the board. The plans for the meeting, which would also be a fundraising conference…