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

BEIJING, May 7: Two former Chinese defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges on Thursday, official media reported. Wei and his successor Li, who worked under President Xi Jinpings watch, were expelled from the ruling Communist Party in 2024. Wei served as Defence Minister from 2018 to 2023, and Li barely served a few months as his successor. Li, a Chinese aerospace engineer who headed the Peoples Liberation Armys [] The post

CAIRO, May 3: Sudans paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killed at least five people in a drone attack that hit a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Khartoum, a local Sudanese rights group said. The attack on Saturday morning hit a vehicle that was travelling from the White Nile province to Omdurman, the sister city of the capital, Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians, said in a statement. It added that the attack reflects continued [] The post

Dubai, May 2: The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The alert posted Friday by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of the worlds trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth [] The post US Warns Shipping Firms They Could Face

WASHINGTON, Apr 29: The top labour official of North Carolina has supported a federal proposal to increase the minimum wages employers will have to offer to hire foreign workers under H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 visa programmes. North Carolina Labour Commissioner Luke Farley said American workers were being hurt by foreign visa programmes that depress wages. H-1B visas take jobs from American and North Carolina workers. Last week, I submitted official comments in support of a new rule proposed by the []