The half-brother of Jordan’s head of state King Abdullah II is believed to have been placed under house arrest amid reports of an alleged coup attempt. Authorities in the state detained several people on Saturday over what officials called a threat to the country’s “security and stability,” with Prince Hamzah bin Hussein – a former crown prince –...
Accompanied by a blaring horn and cries of “God is great”, in the early hours of Monday morning, it finally budged. An Egyptian and international salvaging team has succeeded in partially freeing a vast container ship that had become stuck on the banks of the Suez canal for six days, holding up tens of billions of dollars’...
Israelis have begun voting in an unprecedented fourth election in two years that many see as a referendum on divisive longterm leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the vote a “festival of democracy” despite fears the results would once again be inconclusive prolonging the country’s political deadlock. At least 6.5 million Israels are registered to vote but as polling...
Sri Lanka has announced plans to ban the wearing of burqas and said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security. The minister of public security, Sarath Weerasekara, said he had signed a paper on Friday seeking the approval of the cabinet of ministers to ban burkas – outer...
Two Florida women aged 34 and 44 dressed up as “grannies” – wearing bonnets and gloves – in a failed attempt to pass as old enough to be eligible for coronavirus jabs, according to local media reports. WFTV, an ABC-affiliated TV station in Orlando, reported that the pair had valid vaccine cards after having their first shots,...
Donald Trump has fallen out with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and is refusing to pay the former New York mayor’s legal bills, it was reported, with the president feeling abandoned and frustrated during his last days in office. Giuliani played a key role in Trump’s failed attempts to overturn the results of November’s presidential election...
The foreign ministers of Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada have issued a joint statement expressing “serious concern” about the arrest of 55 democracy activists and supporters in Hong Kong last week. The arrests were by far the largest such action taken under a national security law (NSL) that China imposed on the semi-autonomous territory a little more...
A rightwing leader defies social norms and political conventions, winning a popular following as well as the blessing of a major political movement, whose agenda he pursues to their delight. But when he’s about to lose office, he musters up his supporters and sympathetic members of the security forces to keep power, turning against his...
Georgia is now the staging ground for the final deciding race for the US Congress and will put a lid on last year’s elections. Currently, Republicans hold the institution’s upper chamber – the Senate – with 51 senators to Democrats’ 46 and two Democrat-leaning independents. Flipping the two available seats would give the Democrats 50,...
Julian Assange will make a fresh appeal to be released from prison this week after a British judge ruled that he cannot be extradited to the US to face charges of espionage and hacking government computers. While district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected arguments that Assange would not get a fair trial in the US, she blocked extradition...