Gaza City – In May 2021, the occupied Gaza Strip experienced renewed bloodshed and destruction as Israel launched a devastating 11-day military offensive on the besieged enclave. It was the fourth major offensive launched by Israel on the Palestinian territory in 14 years, compounding the […]
Year: 2021
Bitcoin closes lucrative year with a whimper
Bitcoin is ringing out a banner year with a rocky finish. The largest cryptocurrency by market value is on pace to close out December with a 19% drop, its largest monthly loss since May. That’s also its worst December since 2013. And its 59% advance […]
Omicron mutes New Year parties worldwide: Live news
The year 2022 is here in some countries, with the inhabitants of the South Pacific islands of Samoa and Kiribati the first to start the new year at 10:00 GMT, and New Zealand following an hour later. In Australia, Sydney kicked off 2022 with 6 […]
China accuses Walmart of ‘stupidity’ over missing Xinjiang items
China issued a stern warning to Walmart Inc. following allegations that the company’s warehouse stores in the country stopped selling items from Xinjiang, ramping up pressure on the retail giant amid rising tensions with the U.S. over the western province. The Central Commission for Discipline […]
Colorado fires: Hundreds of homes burn in ‘fast-motion’ disaster
Nearly 1,000 homes have been destroyed in wind-driven wildfires in the US state of Colorado, as officials said it was a “miracle” that no casualties had been reported so far as a result of the devastating blazes. “It was a disaster in fast-motion over half […]
New Year’s Eve air travel is off to a bumpy start
New Year’s Eve air travel got off to a bumpy start Friday morning, with more than 1,300 flights canceled in the U.S. and 1,000 scrubbed for Saturday. JetBlue Airways Corp. had scratched 145 flights, or 14% of its schedule, by 12:17 p.m. in New York, […]
Beloved American actress Betty White dies aged 99
Iconic American comedian and actress Betty White, whose groundbreaking career spanned decades, has died at age 99, US media outlets have reported. Jeff Witjas, White’s agent and close friend, told People magazine in a statement on Friday that “even though Betty was about to be […]
Iran space launch fails to put payloads into orbit: Official
Iran’s space launch on Thursday has failed to put its three payloads into orbit after the rocket was unable to reach the required speed, a defence ministry spokesman said in remarks carried on state television. The attempted launch, which came as indirect United States-Iran talks […]
Media watchdog says 45 journalists killed in 2021
A total of 45 journalists were killed worldwide in 2021, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says, adding it was “one of the lowest death tolls” it had recorded for any year. The toll included nine in Afghanistan – the highest number suffered by a […]
US’s Colorado governor slashes trucker’s sentence by 100 years
In the United States, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has shortened the 110-year sentence of a truck driver convicted of vehicular homicide, reducing the prison term to 10 years after prosecutors went back to court this week in a rare move seeking leniency. In a commutation […]