SIWA, Indonesia: Nearly 80 people are still missing nearly 24 hours after a ferry ran into trouble in rough seas off the coast of Indonesia’s Sulawesi, with authorities not ruling out the possibility of a sinking. ADVERTISING 5 The transport ministry has confirmed three peop

CAIRO: The World Bank Group has announced a $1 billion loan to Egypt, the first installment of an $8 billion financing plan to help the country carry out key economic reforms. Yesterday's statement says the $8 billion loan will be disbursed over a four-year period to support Egypt's efforts to "r

ADDIS ABABA: The United States government has announced $88 million to help feed hungry people in drought-stricken areas of Ethiopia, bringing the total amount of humanitarian aid to the country in 2015 to more than $435 million. The Ethiopian government is appealing for $1.4 billion from the int

The United States appears poised to lift at least some sanctions against Iran – possibly as early as January. The secretary of state, John Kerry, said in a letter on Wednesday to the Senate foreign relations committee that Iran is fulfilling its obligations under the international agreement in wh

THE UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations kicked off the race to be the next secretary-general with a letter that for the first time invited candidates to become the world’s top diplomat. The choice of the UN chief has for decades been the purview of the five permanent Security Council members — Brita

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s economy took a $16-billion hit this year from forest fires that cloaked Southeast Asia in haze, more than double the sum spent on rebuilding Aceh after the 2004 tsunami, the World Bank said Tuesday. The fires and resulting haze are an annual occurrence caused by slash-and-burn

RIYADH: Once popular as the Himalayan Kingdom, it is now officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal after adopting the first democratic constitution in a historic step to unite the country for progress and prosperity. In an interview with Arab News on the development Ananda Prasad Sharma,

WAHINGTON DC: US President Barack Obama has warned Americans to refrain from blaming Islam for terrorism and said that ISIS and other terror groups were depicting the fight against terrorism as a war between Islam and the West. According to the Dawn, it was Obama's third address to his nation sin

WASHINGTON: A US government agency report has warned that Islamic State has the ability to create fake Syrian passports, a federal official confirmed on Friday. A spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed the contents of a story by CNN on Friday about the report, but declin

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong un appeared on Thursday to claim the country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were sceptical about his claim. Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feat

BEIJING: China will give household registration permits to its unregistered citizens and make medical insurance coverage more equal, the government said on Wednesday, as it looks to overhaul systems often under fire for failing those people most in need. The move on household registration - or "h

GENEVA/AMMAN: The United Nations urged Jordan on Tuesday to allow in 12,000 Syrian refugees stranded at the border in deteriorating humanitarian conditions and offered to help reinforce security at registration points. The Syrians are fleeing escalating air strikes on their battered homeland as w

Asserting that the ISIS does not speak for Islam, US President Barack Obama has urged Islamic leaders across the world to speak out against the terrorist outfit and its ideology. In a rare address to the nation from his Oval Office, Obama also urged his countrymen not to discriminate against peop

JAKARTA: Police say a commuter train slammed into a passenger minibus at a railroad crossing in Indonesia's capital, killing at least 14 people and seriously injuring 10 others. Tambora neighborhood police chief Wirdhanto says the bus driver allegedly ignored the warning signals when he crossed t

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is deeply disturbed at some of the "political rhetoric" directed against the Muslim community in the US in the aftermath of the California mass shooting that killed 14 people, a presidential spokesman said today. Any effort to marginalise the highly patriotic Mu

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian anti-corruption officials questioned Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday in an investigation into deposits of funds totalling 2.6 billion ringgit ($615.53 million) into his bank accounts that have prompted calls for his resignation. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissio

LAHORE: A Pakistani attorney said on Thursday he has filed a court petition seeking the return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond Britain forced India to hand over in colonial times. Once the largest known diamond in the world, the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels. It is set in a crown

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama hailed a vote Wednesday by British lawmakers to join the air campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria. In a statement that also praised a German government decision to provide 1,200 military personnel to support the fight against the radical group, O