They will counter Trump's Gaza plan
RIYADH, Feb 20 (AFP): Arab leaders will gather in Saudi Arabia on Friday to counter President Donald Trump's plan for US control of Gaza and the expulsion of its inhabitants, diplomatic and government sources said.The plan stirred rare unity among Arab states which roundly rejected the idea, but they could...
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Starmer backs Zelensky after Trump calls him 'dictator'
LONDON, Feb 20 (BBC/AFP): Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has backed Volodymyr Zelensky as a "democratically elected leader" after Donald Trump described the Ukrainian president as a "dictator".Sir Keir called Zelensky on Wednesday evening and told him it was "perfectly reasonable" for Ukraine to "suspend elections during wartime as the...
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Hamas hands over bodies of 4 Israeli hostages
TEL AVIV, Feb 20 (AFP): Militants on Thursday handed over the bodies of four hostages taken into Gaza during their October 7, 2023 attack, with Hamas saying they include the Bibas family-symbols of Israel's ordeal since the Gaza war began.This is the first release of dead hostages under a fragile...
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Trump's freeze on foreign aid could give China an opening on world stage
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (AP): President Donald Trump's restrictions on foreign aid and targeting of a key agency funding programmes around the world may be offering an opening to America's biggest adversary - China.From the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development to quitting international groups, Trump's drastic "America First"...
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Yoon defends martial law decree in courts
SEOUL, Feb 20 (AP): Traveling around Seoul in a prison transport vehicle, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in two different courts on Thursday, contesting his arrest on rebellion charges in one and fighting an effort to remove him from office in the other.Both cases - one on criminal...
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Court rejects Trump bid
NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters): A US appeals court on Wednesday let stand an order blocking President Donald Trump from curtailing automatic birthright citizenship nationwide as part of the Republican's hardline crackdown on immigration and illegal border crossings.The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration...
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Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop
PRAGUE, Feb 20 (AFP): A 16-year-old boy killed two women in a knife attack in a shop in the Czech Republic on Thursday morning, police said, adding the motive was unclear.Police arrested the teenager, a Czech national, minutes after the attack in a shopping area on the outskirts of Hradec...
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Iran executes 975 people in 2024
PARIS, Feb 20 (AFP): Iran executed at least 975 people last year in a "horrifying escalation" of its use of capital punishment, two human rights groups said on Thursday.Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and French group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said the figure was the highest since IHR...
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