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SEOUL: People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul Tuesday.
N Korea fires two suspected cruise missiles: Seoul
SEOUL: North Korea fired two suspected cruise missiles yesterday, Seoul said, its fifth weapons test this year as Pyongyang flexes its military muscles while ignoring US offers of talks. The last time North Korea tested this many weapons in a month was in 2019, after high-profile negotiations collapsed between leader Kim Jong Un and then-US president Donald Trump.This year Pyongyang has embarked on a fresh flurry of sanctions-busting tests,...
SORONG, West Papua: Employees leave Double O nightclub where at least 18 people were killed in clashes between two groups, in Sorong in Indonesia's West Papua province yesterday. - AFP
At least 19 dead after clash, fire at club in Indonesia's West Papua
SORONG, Indonesia: At least 19 people were killed in a clash at a nightclub in the town of Sorong in Indonesia's West Papua province, police said yesterday, with most dying after the venue caught fire. One victim was stabbed and 18 more died in the blaze at the Double O nightclub, officials said. "The clash broke out last night (Monday) at 11 pm. It was a prolonged conflict from a clash on Saturday," Sorong police chief Ary Nyoto Setiawan said in...
KUWAIT: This file photo shows a vendor siting inside his shop in Souq Mubarakiya in Kuwait City. This picture is used for illustrative purposes only. - Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh
Expats over 60 hope decision ends year-long anxiety
By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Manpower yesterday approved the renewal of work permits of residents aged over 60 years without a university degree for KD 250, in addition to private health insurance, during a meeting chaired by Justice Minister Jamal Al-Jalawi. The decision is reviewable after one year. The law, which was supposed to be implemented in January 2021, was passed in 2020, but suspended due to fierce opposition by...
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Expats over 60 without degrees can renew residency for KD 250
By B IzzakKUWAIT: Minister of Justice and head of the Public Authority for Manpower Jamal Al-Jalawi yesterday said the authority’s board decided to allow expatriates aged over 60 years who do not hold a university degree to renew their residencies by paying an annual fee of KD 250 and purchasing private health insurance, ending a problem that continued for well over a year.The minister said the decision will be re-evaluated after one year to...
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Kuwait projects $10bn deficit for 2022-2023
KUWAIT: The Cabinet yesterday submitted a draft 2022-2023 budget projecting a narrower budget deficit amid climbing oil prices. The state, whose revenues heavily rely on hydrocarbons, projected a budget deficit of $10.3 billion for the fiscal year starting in April, down 74.2 percent from the current year's estimated shortfall, according to a finance ministry statement.It added that spending would fall 4.8 percent to around $72.8 billion, of...
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As health insurance hike looms, questions remain on future of healthcare for expats
By Ahmad Jabr and Chidi EmmanuelKUWAIT: Foreign residents in Kuwait could be required to pay a KD 130 annual health insurance fee instead of the current KD 50 to renew their visas as early as 2023, according to a recent report by Al-Rai quoting sources at the Health Assurance Hospitals Company (Dhaman). While the increase is far from confirmed, residents realize it's inevitable, as plans to introduce a new health insurance system for the...
HASAKEH, Syria: A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) mans a checkpoint in the northern Syrian city of Hasakeh. - AFP
Jihadist fighters holed up with minors in Syrian prison
HASAKEH, Syria: Kurdish forces geared up for an assault yesterday on a northeast Syria prison that Islamic State group fighters stormed last week, raising concern over the fate of hundreds of under-age detainees. IS fighters on Thursday rammed two explosives-laden vehicles into the Kurdish-run Ghwayran prison to launch a brazen jailbreak operation that has plunged the city of Hasakeh into chaos.The attack, the group's biggest since their...
BRUSSELS: British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (L) fists bump with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg while posing prior to a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels yesterday. - AFP
NATO bolsters eastern flank as fears mount over Ukraine crisis
KYIV: NATO said Monday it was sending jets and ships to bolster its eastern European flank, as the US and EU looked to coordinate a tough response to Russia if it invades Ukraine. Tensions have soared over Russia's deployment of some 100,000 troops and heavy armour at its neighbour's borders, despite the Kremlin's insistence it is not planning a new incursion.The United States, Britain and Australia ordered diplomats' families to leave Kyiv,...
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Lebanon ex-PM Hariri retires from political life
BEIRUT: Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri announced yesterday he would not run in upcoming parliamentary elections and was withdrawing from political life. The announcement could jeopardize the crisis-hit country’s ballot altogether and marks the end of an era that saw the Hariri family dominate Lebanese Sunni politics since the end of the civil war in 1990.The 51-year-old three-time premier, who was propelled into politics by his...
OSLO: Britain's Special Representative for Afghanistan Nigel Casey and Taleban representative Amir Khan Muttaqi shake hands as they arrive to attend a meeting yesterday. – AFP
Taleban hail Oslo meet as great success
OSLO: On their first visit to Europe since returning to power, the Taleban held landmark talks with Western diplomats in Oslo yesterday over the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, a meeting the Islamist regime’s delegation called an “achievement in itself”. The international community has however insisted the Taleban must respect human rights before aid can be resumed to Afghanistan, where hunger threatens more than half population.Having...
KHARTOUM: Sudanese protesters demonstrate calling for civilian rule and demanding justice for those killed in crackdowns in the capital Khartoum Monday. - AFP
Thousands of Sudanese brave tear gas to protest military rule
KHARTOUM: Sudanese security forces fired tear gas yesterday at crowds calling for civilian rule and demanding justice for the scores killed in crackdowns since a military coup nearly three months ago. Thousands of protesters in the capital Khartoum chanting slogans against the army headed toward the presidential palace, an area which security forces had sealed off ahead of the march.Police forces later fired tear gas to disperse the protesters,...
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Assange wins to appeal US extradition decision
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was yesterday given permission to appeal a decision to extradite him to the United States where he could face a lifetime in prison. Washington wants to put the 50-year-old Australian on trial in connection with the publication of 500,000 secret military files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.The High Court in London in December overturned a lower court's ruling not to send him to the...