18-01-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India plans to make it much easier for foreign firms to invest in defence companies, two government sources with knowledge of the matter said, a move that would align with efforts to boost domestic manufacturing after last year’s conflict with Pakistan. The cap on foreign …

18-01-2026 WASHINGTON: The US has accused South Africa’s defence ministry of refusing to obey orders from its own government to send home Iranian warships that have been conducting naval exercises in the African country’s waters. “South Africa can’t lecture the world on ‘justice’ while cozying up to Iran,” it said …

18-01-2026 THE HAGUE: Myanmar has denied committing genocide against the Ronhingya people, saying The Gambia has failed to provide enough proof, as it begun its defence at the UN’s top court. Ko Ko Hlaing, a Myanmar government representative, told judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the allegation …

17-01-2026 WASHINGTON: Four astronauts aboard the International Space Station are returning to Earth, more than a month earlier than originally planned. NASA made the decision to cut SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission short due to an undisclosed medical concern with one of the astronauts; the crew was scheduled to spend a six-month …

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 …