24-07-2025 BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: A United States government employee has been prevented from leaving China after visiting the country for personal reasons, Washington has said. The employee of the US Patent and Trademark Office, an agency within the US Department of Commerce, was subject to an “exit ban” while travelling in …

23-07-2025 TEHRAN: Iran could withhold security commitments if European states invoke a UN mechanism to re-impose international sanctions on the Islamic Republic, a member of Iran’s parliamentary national security commission said on Monday, according to Borna news. “We have many tools in our disposition. We can withhold our commitment to …

23-07-2025 JERUSALEM/ GAZA STRIP: Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held. The area is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months …

23-07-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: U.S. President Donald Trump’s lunch meeting with Pakistan’s military chief prompted a private diplomatic protest from India in a warning to Washington about risks to their bilateral ties while New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge, officials and analysts said. The meeting …

23-07-2025 MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr will meet United States President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally will secure a more favorable trade deal. Marcos will be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump during the US leader’s second term. Trump has …

23-07-2025 TOKYO: South Korean cabbage, Australian lettuce, Japanese rice, Brazilian coffee and Ghanaian cocoa are among the many foods that have been hit by price hikes following extreme climate events since 2022, a team of international scientists has found. The research released on Monday cites, among other examples, a 280 …

23-07-2025 By SJA Jafri + Agencies QUETTA: Pakistani authorities have arrested at least 13 individuals, including a tribal leader, in connection with the killing of a couple in the southwestern province of Balochistan. The arrests followed nationwide outrage over a video depicting the murders went viral on social media, with …

23-07-2025 NEW YORK: A sweeping cyber espionage operation targeting Microsoft server software has compromised about 100 different organizations over the weekend. Two of the organizations that helped uncover the attack announced their findings on Monday. On Saturday, Microsoft issued an alert about “active attacks” on self-hosted SharePoint servers, which are …

23-07-2025 LONDON/ PARIS/ OTTAWA: More than two dozen countries have called for an immediate end to the war on Gaza, saying that suffering there had “reached new depths” in the latest sign of allies’ sharpening language as Israel’s international isolation deepens. The statement on Monday came after more than 21 …

22-07-2025 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The Indian government’s top think tank has proposed easing rules that de facto require extra scrutiny for investments by Chinese companies, arguing that the rules have meant delays for some sizeable deals, three government sources said. Currently, all investment by Chinese entities in …