Category: World

Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raised $1.9 billion in new funding, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. This would be the largest single fundraising round to date by SpaceX, according to PitchBook data. Bloomberg, which reported about the funding round last week, said the private rocket company will have an equity value of $46bn after the […]

Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden as their presidential candidate, with party elders, a new generation of politicians and voters in every state joining in an extraordinary, pandemic-cramped virtual convention to send him into the general election campaign to oust United States President Donald Trump. For someone who has spent more than three decades eyeing the […]

KABUL: Six members of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s honour guard were wounded on Tuesday when a rocket struck his palace compound, two officials said. The rocket was one of a salvo launched into central Kabul just as officials were gathering in the capital to commemorate Afghanistan’s 101st independence day. Ghani had finished speaking outside the […]

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday attacked Joe Biden for calling on governors to mandate that all Americans wear masks for the next three months, accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of politicising an issue Trump himself has used for political gain in recent months. Trump claimed Biden has been wrong about the coronavirus pandemic […]

Iran and Turkey lashed out at their regional rival the United Arab Emirates on Friday over its decision to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel in a US-brokered deal, accusing it of betraying the Palestinian cause. Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the deal a “dagger that was unjustly struck by the UAE in the backs of the Palestinian people […]

New Zealand’s resurgent coronavirus outbreak has spread beyond Auckland, health officials said on Friday, in a major blow to efforts to contain the disease. Health Minister Chris Hipkins said there were 12 more cases of community transmission, and one probable, following the shock re-emergence of the virus in Auckland this week. He said two of […]

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he agreed to delay annexation in the occupied West Bank as part of a normalisation deal with the UAE but the plans remain “on the table”. Netanyahu said that in agreement with US President Donald Trump he had “delayed” West Bank annexation plans, but that he […]

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday approved a two-week state of emergency in Beirut, declared after last week’s gigantic portside explosion, giving the army greater powers to suppress resurgent protests. Top diplomats jetted in to show solidarity and contribute to the massive ongoing aid effort, but also to weigh in on political developments following a blast […]

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab was expected to announce his government’s resignation Monday amid popular outrage over the deadly Beirut port explosion that has reignited angry street protests. The under-fire cabinet, struggling to weather the political storm, met amid widespread demands for an end to an entrenched political system widely seen as inept, corrupt […]

MINSK: Police in Belarus detained 3,000 people for taking part in unauthorised gatherings during post-election demonstrations on Sunday, the interior ministry said, accusing some protesters of sparking clashes with police. The ministry said in a statement that 1,000 of the detentions were in the capital Minsk and the rest in other parts of the country. […]