Sunday, 4 January 2026

Author: AFP

Bahamas’ Shaunae sparkles

Jamaica’s Blake shows he is not a spent force BIRMINGHAM (United Kingdom): Bahamas star Shaunae Miller-Uibo came from behind to overhaul home hope Dina Asher-Smith and win a star-studded women’s 200 metres at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting on Sunday. Asher-Smith fell just short, as did her compatriot Adam Gemili

Fiery Thomas smashes record to capture title

WASHINGTON: Justin Thomas captured his 10th career US PGA title on Sunday, holding off fellow American Patrick Cantlay down the back nine to win the BMW Championship in record-smashing fashion. The 2017 PGA Championship winner seized his first triumph since last year’s WGC Bridgestone Invitational, defeating Cantlay by three strokes,

Sinking city Jakarta on brink of disaster

JAKARTA: Time is running out for Jakarta. One of the fastest-sinking cities on earth, environmental experts warn that one third of it could be submerged by 2050 if current rates continue. Decades of uncontrolled and excessive depletion of groundwater reserves, rising sealevels, and increasingly volatile weather patterns mean swathes of

Israel: We fired on armed Gazans after rocket attack

GAZA CITY (Palestinian Territories): Israel said it opened fire on armed Palestinians on Gaza’s border overnight and Hamas’s health ministry reported three dead yesterday, the latest in a series of incidents along the tense barrier. Israel’s tank and helicopter fire came after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired three

N. Ireland marks 50 years since army deployment

LISBURN (United Kingdom): Remembering fallen comrades, veterans paraded Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of the British army’s deployment to Northern Ireland — a key moment in the Troubles. Hundreds of ex-service personnel attended the Northern Ireland Veterans Association (Niva) event in the city of Lisburn, south-west of Belfast. A

Seven killed, four missing in Indonesia ferry accident

KENDARI (Indonesia): Seven people, including two children, were killed and four others missing after a ferry carrying dozens of passengers caught fire off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island early Saturday, police said. The ferry, heading from Southeast Sulawesi to an island in Central Sulawesi, caught fire shortly after midnight. “Suddenly there were

One-person protests in Moscow

MOSCOW: Russian opposition activists held one-person protests in Moscow Saturday to demand free elections, as the wave of the Russian capital’s larger demonstrations took a breather this weekend. In a move to circumvent restrictions by the authorities, activists took turns to hold up protest signs as such demonstrations do not

Taiwan invites visitors to stay in govt office

FANCY spending the night in a presidential office? The unique accommodation is up for grabs in Taiwan, where authorities are rolling out the red carpet for visitors after the island’s tourism industry was hit by a Chinese ban on solo travellers. “I invite you to visit Taiwan and experience the

Romania’s ‘Roma palaces’ a status symbol for poor minority

AMID modest surroundings of fields or small towns, the so-called Roma palaces seem improbable, even outlandish, but reveal a quest for status within a marginalised and mostly poor minority. They began springing up in the early 1990s after the collapse of communism, when some in the Roma community came into

Easy credit a tough test for Russian economy

MOSCOW: New machines popping up in Russian shopping centres seem innocuous enough — users insert their passport and receive a small loan in a matter of minutes. But the devices, which dispense credit in Saint Petersburg malls at a sky-high annual rate of 365 percent, are another sign of a