Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza

London, Aug 5 (IANS) The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Tuesday announced the withdrawal of all of its troops to “defensive positions” outside the Gaza Strip. An IDF officer said that Israeli forces left Gaza before the start of a 72-hour truce, scheduled for 8.00 a.m, BBC reported. The Israeli army had claimed the main aim […]

UN condemns attacks in South Sudan

United Nations, July 26 (IANS) The UN Security Council has condemned the recent attacks both by the opposition and government parties in South Sudan, urging immediate peace talks. “The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the series of attacks launched July 20 by armed opposition forces, and also the July 23 attacks by the South […]

BMW, Aston Martin to recall defective vehicles

Beijing, July 26 (IANS) BMW and Aston Martin Lagonda will recall autos in China over airbag and gearbox problems respectively, China’s quality watchdog has said. From Aug 25, BMW and BMW Brilliance will recall a total of 15,474 cars in the 3-Series sold in China due to defects with the airbag, which may malfunction in humid […]

Canada announces sanctions against Russia, Ukraine

Ottawa, July 25 (IANS) The Canadian Government has announced new economic sanctions and travel bans against Ukrainian and Russian individuals and entities. “The sanctions imposed are against a broad range of entities from Russia’s financial and energy sectors, our aim is to increase economic and political pressure on the Putin regime,” Xinhua quoted Canadian Prime Minister […]

China’s yuan weakens

Beijing, July 25 (IANS) The value of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened by 18 basis points to 6.1597 against the US dollar in its central parity Friday, authorities said. In China’s foreign exchange spot market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two percent from the central parity rate each trading […]

Poland cancels cultural project with Russia

Warsaw, July 25 (IANS) The Polish government Thursday announced that it has cancelled plans for celebrating Poland Year in Russia and Russia Year in Poland, a cultural project planned for 2015. “The decision was taken by the government but both Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Culture Minister Malgorzata Omilanowska agreed that in the light of the […]

Male and white workers dominate jobs at Twitter

New York, July 24 (IANS) Male and white workers occupy most of the tech and leadership jobs at Twitter, the microblogging site has acknowledged. Releasing the demographic make-up of its workers Wednesday, Twitter said that men account for 70 percent of employees and 90 percent of its tech staff. While 59 percent of the company’s employees […]

Most detailed map yet of Mars developed

Washington, July 22 (IANS/EFE) The US Geological Survey (USGS) has developed the most detailed map of Mars to date, which includes topographic and thermal information as well as data on the properties of the Martian surface. Images captured by the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet enabled the development of the new map, which […]

MH17 victims’ bodies moved out of Ukraine rebel area

London, July 22 (IANS) A train with the remains of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which crashed in Ukraine last week, arrived Tuesday in the city of Kharkiv, outside rebel territory. According to officials, the remains will be flown from a coordination centre in Kharkiv to the Netherlands for identification and forensic identification, BBC […]

Indonesian presidential candidate withdraws from poll process

Jakarta, July 22 (IANS) Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Hatta Radjasa Tuesday announced their withdrawal from the election process alleging fraud in the July 9 election. The pair ordered their team taking part in the vote recapitulation process being held in the General Election Commission (KPU) to walk out, rejecting any legal […]