MUNICH, April 27 — The vast majority of companies in Germany and many other countries fear a cyber attack, according to a company survey conducted by reinsurer Munich Re, reported dpa news.

ANKARA, April 27 — The extensive amount of rubble left by Israel's devastating war in the Gaza Strip could take about 14 years to remove, a United Nations (UN) official said on Friday.

ATHENS, April 27 — Paris 2024 Olympics organisers on Friday received the Games' flame in a handover ceremony in Athens ahead of a 68-day torch relay that will end with the opening ceremony on July 26.

GAZA, April 26 — Paramedics and rescue teams who participated in recovering the bodies of civilians from the mass graves uncovered in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, reported suspicions of organ theft by the Israeli forces.

BENGALURU/KOTTAYAM/MATHURA, April 26 — India began voting today in the second phase of the world's biggest election, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rivals raise the pitch of the campaign by focusing on hot-button issues such as religious discrimination, affirmative action and taxes.

ISTANBUL, April 26 — The aid flotilla 'Break The Siege: Mission To Gaza 2024' which was planned for today will be delayed again, following pressure from Israel to withdraw a flag state from the lead ship, Akdeniz, claimed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).

BENGALURU, April 26 — The global economy is likely to carry its solid momentum for the rest of the year and into 2025, defying earlier expectations of a slowdown, according to a Reuters poll of economists who said stronger growth than forecast was more likely than weakness.

LONDON, April 26 — The all-electric Formula E championship presented a new Gen3 Evo car for 2025 on Thursday with a boast that it would out-accelerate Formula One from 0-60 mph.

DUBAI, April 26 — A Palestinian civil defence team on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers departed the complex.

MOSCOW, April 25 — Russia is considering downgrading the level of its diplomatic relations with the United States if Western governments go ahead with proposals to confiscate its frozen assets, state news agency RIA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Thursday.

NEW YORK, April 25 — Dangerous levels of acute hunger affected a staggering 281.6 million people last year, the fifth year in a row that food insecurity has worsened, heightening growing fears of famine and “widespread death”, United Nations (UN) agencies warned on Wednesday.

JAKARTA, April 25 — Malaysian conglomerate Axiata Group and Indonesian group PT Sinar Mas are going ahead with plans to merge their telecom operations in Indonesia to create a US$3.5 billion entity, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

CUPERTINO, April 25 — Apple lost its crown as China's biggest smartphone seller in the first quarter of 2024 as its smartphone shipments fell 6.6 per cent from a year ago amid intense competition, preliminary data from research firm IDC showed on Thursday.

PARIS/LONDON, April 25 — Delays and flight cancellations were set to impact swathes of Europe on Thursday, after authorities failed to reach a deal with some French air traffic control workers to avert a strike.

SYDNEY, April 25 — Marine wildlife experts were frantically trying to rescue some 140 pilot whales stranded on Thursday in the shallow waters of an estuary in the southwest of the state of Western Australia.

GAZA CITY, April 25 — Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported the outbreak of meningitis and hepatitis among displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

ISTANBUL, April 25 — The grandson of South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela has urged the global community to exert pressure and prevent Israeli vessels from entering their ports.

TOKYO, April 25 — Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings said on Tuesday it wanted to see huge growth for its 7-Eleven convenience store chain globally, and would be accelerating its entry into Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

WASHINGTON, April 25 — TikTok's chief executive said on Wednesday the social media company expects to win a legal challenge to block legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden that he said would ban its popular short video app used by 170 million Americans.

VENICE, April 25 — Venice becomes the first city in the world on Thursday to introduce a payment system for tourists in an effort to thin the crowds that throng the canals during the peak holiday season.