Daily Excelsior

YEREVAN, June 8: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan early Monday claimed victory in a general election seen as a test of Russias influence in the South Caucasus state, as preliminary results showed his governing Civil Contract party came first with 49.81 per cent of the vote. Pashinyan and the governing Civil Contract party were looking for a strong mandate for a new geopolitical course for Armenia, including distancing the former Soviet republic from Moscow, seeking to join the European Un

SINGAPORE, June 6: The Singapore government on Saturday ordered three social media platforms to block access to 14 posts, likely originating from China, which targeted the Indian community and undermine the countrys model of multiculturalism. The police have issued disabling directions under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) to block access to the posts on YouTube, Facebook and X, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement. Seventy-five per cent of Singapores over six million popu

LONDON, June 5: The former Prince Andrew made money by subletting three cottages on the estate where he lived rent-free for two decades, according to a report on the royal familys properties released Friday by the UK public spending watchdog. It also disclosed that his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, live in rent-controlled palace properties paid for by their uncle, King Charles III. The National Audit Office report said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received income from renting

BEIRUT, June 2: Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed eight people, including a father and his son and daughter, a day after US President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to dial back fighting. Israel threatened on Monday to strike Beiruts southern suburbs, causing panic in the Lebanese capital as thousands fled to safer areas and Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel. Israeli forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years, but Beiru

ISLAMABAD, June 2:Militancy-driven violence spiked 27 per cent in Pakistan last month compared to the preceding month, showing the deep prevalence of terrorism-linked threats to the country, according to a think tank report. Militant and terror groups regained momentum during May after a brief period of relative decline, said a monthly security assessment released on Monday by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). According to the report, the country witnessed 128 ter

GILGIL (Kenya), May 28: A fire ripped through a dormitory in a girls boarding school in central Kenya on Thursday, killing at least 16 students, a government official said, in the latest such incident to afflict the East African nation. Education Minister Julius Ogamba said Thursday that 79 others were injured at the Utumishi Girls School, which has more than 800 students in the Gilgil area of central Kenya. The cause has not yet been established. Ogamba said authorities would [] The post Fire r

BEIRUT, May 28:The Israeli military early Thursday pounded Lebanons fourth-largest city, killing at least 14 people across the south of the country in its ongoing military escalation against the Hezbollah group ahead of crucial talks in Washington. Among those killed in the flurry of strikes were five women and children and a Lebanese soldier. Dozens of others were wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry and the state-run National News Agency. An Israeli soldier meanwhile was killed i

CANBERRA, May 28: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday said he looked forward to hosting PM Narendra Modi again soon, while describing Indias growing economic importance as an extraordinary opportunity for the Indo-Pacific region. Addressing the parliament in Canberra, Albanese said India, which already has the largest population in the world, was set to become the third-largest economy over this decade. That is an extraordinary opportunity for us in our region. We are a Pacifi

MANILA, May 27: A group led by a Roman Catholic bishop in the Philippines launched a fact-finding body Wednesday to document accounts of witnesses and other details of ex-President Rodrigo Dutertes bloody anti-drugs crackdown that the government can use to prosecute law enforcers. Duterte, who ended his stormy six-year presidency in 2022, was arrested last year and taken to the Netherlands, where he is facing trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes against h

KYIV, May 27: Russian bank staff and branches could be joining the fight against Ukrainian drone attacks under an ambitious plan approved by the countrys lower house of parliament. The banks would bear the cost of installing electronic jamming systems on their premises while selected employees would also shoot down incoming drones, according to the draft bill passed in its third and final reading Tuesday. The bill, which state news agency Interfax said was first presented last August and later [

BEIRUT, May 26: An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 12 people, state media said on Tuesday, as an Israeli official said the military had called up more troops to Lebanon. The strike hit the village of Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley late Monday, according to Lebanons state-run National News Agency. It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorised more intensive strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across Lebanon. The Israeli mili