JAKARTA: Pope Francis will visit Indonesia in September, the country's religious affairs minister has said, as concerns mount over the 87-year-old pontiff's health.  Outgoing President Joko Widodo invited the pope to visit Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, in June 2022 as part of an effort to promote religious tolerance. "After waiting for…

THE HAGUE: Several people have been taken hostage in a town in central Netherlands Saturday, according to police, with houses evacuated and the town centre closed down. "A hostage situation involving several people is underway in a building in the centre" of the town of Ede, police said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.…

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: The world's top court has ordered Israel to ensure urgent humanitarian assistance reaches people in the Gaza Strip, where fighting continued Friday including around hospitals despite a binding UN ceasefire call. In its order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said: "Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing…

LONDON: The collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge is likely to lead to a multi-billion dollar insurance loss, the chairperson of commercial insurance market Lloyd's of London said on Thursday. The massive Singapore-flagged container ship Dali sailing out of Baltimore Harbor bound for Sri Lanka reported losing power and the ability to manoeuvre before…

SYDNEY: China promised billions of dollars to infrastructure projects across Southeast Asia, but many of these were never built, according to a study by an Australian think tank released on Wednesday.  Sydney's Lowy Institute found that since 2015, more than US$50 billion that Beijing promised to projects in the region was unallocated. More than half…

SYDNEY: Australian emergency workers on Tuesday said they rescued a man who was stuck in a Brisbane storm drain for 36 hours after apparently trying to retrieve a dropped mobile phone. The man, in his 30s, reportedly entered the tropical city's grimy underworld at the weekend. After refusing a passerby's initial offer of help on…

PARIS: The French government is raising its terror alert warning to its highest level following the shootings on Moscow, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday after a meeting with senior security and defence officials with President Emmanuel Macron. Attal said in a post on X that the decision, which comes months before Paris hosts…

COLOMBO: McDonald's stores across Sri Lanka shut Sunday after the US fast-food giant launched a legal battle with its local franchise holder over allegations of poor hygiene, court officials said. The Commercial High Court of Colombo ordered the closures until April 4, after the parent company accused the local franchise holder of failing to meet…

STUTTGART: German automaker Mercedes-Benz has recalled around 529,000 right-hand drive vehicles worldwide to address a steering software issue, according to a spokesman. A recall notice was published in a database from Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) regulator on Friday and was confirmed to dpa by the Mercedes-Benz spokesman. The recall includes the A-Class, B-Class,…

MEULABOH, Indonesia: Dozens of Rohingya refugees are feared dead or missing after their boat capsized off Indonesia's westernmost coast this week, the United Nations said Friday, as local rescuers called off the search despite survivor accounts that many were swept away. The mostly Muslim Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives…