World

Wellington, Feb. 27 (UNI) The New Zealand government has agreed to introduce legislation that will enable a four-year term of Parliament subject to a referendum, which means a standard term of Parliament will remain at three years, but with the ability to extend the maximum term of Parliament to four years. The main condition is…

Gaza, Feb. 27 (UNI) Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Wednesday night to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a source with Hamas told Xinhua. Al-Qassam Brigades handed over the bodies to the ICRC team, and the team will deliver them to the…

Gaza, Feb. 27 (UNI) Hamas on Wednesday condemned a video shared by U.S. President Donald Trump promoting his vision for transforming Gaza into a seafront resort, accusing him of ignoring Palestinian rights and cultural identity. Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said Trump’s proposals “ignore the real causes of Gaza’s suffering, primarily the…

Washington, Feb 27 (UNI) US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may visit South Korea in late March after the joint South Korean-American exercises Freedom Shield 2025, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing sources. Hegseth may visit a number of South Korean shipyards, including HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean, the report said on Wednesday. The…

Tehran, Feb. 27 (UNI) Iraq on Wednesday repatriated 130 Iranian nationals imprisoned in the country, allowing them to serve the rest of their jail terms in their home country, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. The prisoners were transferred to Iran within the framework of a convict extradition agreement signed between the two countries…

San Francisco, Feb. 27 (UNI) YouTube announced on Wednesday that the company has surpassed 1 billion monthly active podcast viewers. In the United States, YouTube, including YouTube Music, is the most frequently used service for listening to podcasts. Last year, viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices, the company…

Los Angeles, Feb. 26 (UNI) NASA has confirmed that asteroid 2024 YR4, which was initially flagged as a potential threat, poses no significant danger to Earth in 2032 or beyond. The near-Earth asteroid, nearly the size of a football field, was first discovered in December last year. Experts previously projected a 3 percent chance of…

Jakarta, Feb 26 (UNI) Frans Xavier Seda Airport in Indonesia’s eastern province of East Nusa Tenggara was temporarily closed on Wednesday following the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on the island of Flores, according to the flight navigation service AirNav Indonesia. I Nyoman Oka Wirama, an official from AirNav Indonesia, told local media that the…

Manila, Feb. 26 (UNI) The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday said it has approved a loan of 200 million U.S. dollars to enhance the development of climate- and disaster-resilient sewerage and drainage infrastructure in Kolkata, India. The project will construct 84 km of combined trunk and secondary sewerage and drainage pipelines, 176 km of…

Khartoum, Feb 26 (UNI) At least 19 people were killed in a crash of a Sudanese military plane in Sudan’s Omdurman, media reported on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the Alrakoba newspaper reported that a military plane had crashed near Omdurman, killing the crew and officers on board. The Sudanese army later confirmed the crash…