DUBLIN, March 20 (Reuters) - Leo Varadkar will step down as Ireland's prime minister and the leader of the governing Fine Gael party in a surprise move, Irish media reported on Wednesday.

He will hold a press conference at 1200 GMT on Wednesday, the government said.

Varadkar's departure as head of the three-party coalition does not automatically trigger a general election and he could be replaced by a new Fine Gael leader.

Islamabad/Washington, Mar 20 (PTI) The IMF on Wednesday said it has reached a staff-level agreement with the new government in cash-strapped Pakistan on the final review of a USD 3 billion bailout, paving the way for the release of the last USD 1.1 billion tranche from the global lender.

The agreement, however, is subject to the approval of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be held in April.

Tehran, IRNA- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it has targeted Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, in a latest of attack on Zionist targets deep inside Israel in a show of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

IRNA, citing the media of the Iraqi Islamic Resistance War said that the attack in the early hours of Wednesday was carried out using several drones.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the strike on the airport that has been targeted by the resistance group several times in recent weeks.

19 March 2024; MEMO: A senior Palestinian police officer was killed by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the Government Media Office said, Anadolu reported.

19 March 2024; MEMO: A US-based charity has confirmed that a consignment of almost 200 tons of food aid has reached starving people in northern Gaza today, a week after being despatched by sea from Cyprus.

19 March 2024; MEMO: The Algerian presidency yesterday said President Abdelmadjid Tebboune congratulated his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on his re-election.

No further details were given on the matter.

The Russian Central Election Commission had announced yesterday that Putin won the presidential elections with 87.28 per cent of the votes after all ballots were counted.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and his son-in-law, praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property,” suggesting that Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the area.

Singapore, Mar 20 (PTI) An Indian national was charged in a Singapore court on Wednesday with packing more than 5,000 wild turtles into his suitcases and transporting them from Singapore to India last year.

Rafique Syed Hariza Ali Hussain, 40, was handed one charge each under the Wildlife Act and the Animals and Birds Act for allegedly exporting 5,160 red-eared sliders, known commonly as terrapins, from the Changi Airport here to the Coimbatore International Airport in Tamil Nadu on November 7, 2023, Channel News Asia reported.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded that Jews storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in the last ten days of Ramadan, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel’s Channel 13 reported that “Ben-Gvir demanded abolishing the well-known policy in Israel and allowing Jews to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan.”

It revealed that security officials were informed of Ben-Gvir’s request before the Council of Ministers discuss this matter over the next two weeks.

18 March 2024; MEMO: Hamas is “part of the Palestinian national fabric” and China is keen on relations with it, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs envoy, Wang Kejian, said yesterday.

This came during Kejian’s meeting with the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador to Qatar, Cao Xiaolin, according to a statement by the movement.

Bahraich (UP), Mar 20 (PTI) A special court here on Wednesday sentenced a man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment after convicting him in a case of kidnapping and rape of a minor girl, a lawyer said.

Special government advocate Sant Pratap Singh said the father of the minor had lodged an FIR against the accused, Mahesh, at the Nanpara police station on May 4, 2013.

18 March 2024; MEMO: Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has documented the Israeli occupation’s “systematic” targeting of dozens of programmers and IT experts, alongside the destruction of their company headquarters as part of its genocide in the Gaza Strip.