17-01-2026 Bureau Report + Agencies MELBOURNE: One person has died and 300 properties have been destroyed in bushfires that have torn across south-east Australia. The fires have raged in dozens of locations across the country for several days, mostly in the state of Victoria but also in New South Wales, …

17-01-2026 BEIJING: China on Wednesday reported a record trade surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion in 2025, led by booming exports to non-US markets as producers looked to build global scale to fend off sustained pressure from the Trump administration. A push by policymakers for Chinese firms to diversify beyond the …

17-01-2026 LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that Elon Musk’s X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law after the country’s media regulator launched a probe into the platform over sexualized imagery produced by the Grok AI chatbot. “I have been informed this morning that …

17-01-2026 NEW DELHI: On Christmas Eve, Hindu hardline groups affiliated with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced a shutdown in the central Indian city of Raipur. The protest was called over allegations of “forced” religious conversions by Christians, a claim frequently levelled against the Christian community …

17-01-2026 TEHRAN/ BAGHDAD: Armed Kurdish separatist groups sought to cross the border into Iran from Iraq, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a sign of foreign entities potentially seeking to take advantage of instability after days of crackdown on protests against Tehran. The three sources, who included …

17-01-2026 WASHINGTON/ ISRAEL: United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East has announced the launch of the second phase of a US-brokered plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Steve Witkoff said in a social media post on Wednesday that Trump’s 20-point …

Hyderabad, Jan 15 (PMI): Two cases were registered in Hyderabad following alleged vandalism at a temple and damage to a nearby shrine during a protest by a mob, police said on Thursday. Mild tension erupted in the Puranapul area late Wednesday night after idols at a temple were desecrated, and …

Communal Politics Rising: Alleged use of religious divisions to influence voters. Secularism at Risk: Election campaigns increasingly show a tilt toward religion-based politics. Development Continues: Telangana remains stable and progresses under the leadership of CM Revanth Reddy. Political Maneuvering: Potential attempts to undermine leadership and forge covert alliances for electoral …

16-01-2026 PHNOM PENH: Thailand’s military continues to occupy civilian areas in Cambodia, having barricaded some with barbed wire and shipping containers, posing a risk to a truce between the neighbors who clashed twice last year, the Cambodian foreign minister said. Up to 4,000 Cambodian families are unable to return to …

16-01-2026 DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities have asked Lebanese security forces to hand over more than 200 senior officers who fled to Lebanon after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, following an investigation that showed how the neighboring country was a hub for insurgent plotting. On December 18, a top Syrian security official, …