MIDDLE EAST

Iran braces for protests after admitting plane shootdown

9:26 pm January 12, 2020

DUBAI: Iran’s security forces deployed in large numbers across the capital on Sunday, expecting more protests after its Revolutionary Guard admitted to accidentally shooting down a passenger plane at a time of soaring tensions with the United States. Riot police in black uniforms and helmets massed in Vali-e Asr Square, Tehran University and other landmarks […]

Air India flyer seeks damages over data breach

Air India cancels 4 Dubai-bound flights

11:43 pm January 11, 2020

Mumbai: Flag carrier Air India on Saturday cancelled four of its flights to Dubai following the waterlogging at Dubai airport in the wake of heavy rains. Besides, the airline’s Calicut-Dubai flight was diverted to Al-Makhtoum airport as it could not land in Dubai, an Air India spokesperson said. “Due to heavy rains in Dubai and […]

Qaboos, the sultan who shielded Oman from region’s turmoil

7:32 pm January 11, 2020

Muscat: Oman’s Sultan Qaboos, who died on Friday aged 79, transformed the former Arabian Peninsula backwater into a modern state and sought-after mediator while shielding the sultanate from a region in turmoil. The intensely private sultan — the longest-reigning ruler in the modern Arab world — left no apparent heir and the royal family was […]

As Iran and US take a step back, Canada and Ukraine grieve

4:49 pm January 11, 2020

TORONTO: The worst had passed, it seemed, and the United States and Iran no longer appeared poised at the edge of war. “All is well!” President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night, days after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s most powerful general, and Iran, after a barrage of missiles, had signaled it was stepping back […]

US believes Ukrainian plane shot down by Iranian missile, says Pompeo

11:57 pm January 10, 2020

Washington: The US believes it is “likely” that an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian airliner that crashed near Tehran, killing all 176 on board, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday. Within minutes of the Ukrainian flight PS752 taking off from Tehran, the plane came crashing down killing all 176 people on board on […]