13-02-2026 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ LONDON:  India has ruled out relaxation of a ban on e-cigarettes that would have allowed heat-not-burn tobacco products, dealing a blow to a lengthy private lobbying campaign by Philip Morris International for New Delhi to permit such devices. India banned e-cigarettes, including heated …

13-02-2026 WASHINGTON/ JERUSALEM: President Donald Trump will host Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, where the Israeli prime minister is expected to press him to widen US talks with Iran to include limits on Tehran’s missile arsenal and other security threats beyond its nuclear program. In his seventh …

13-02-2026 MOSCOW: A group of weary-looking Indian men carrying sports bags queued at passport control at a busy Moscow airport one recent evening after flying over 2,700 miles and via Uzbekistan to get work. “I have a contract for one year. In the rubbish disposal business. The money is good,” …

13-02-2026 GAZA STRIP: Forty-one Palestinians have arrived in Gaza via the Rafah crossing, becoming the seventh batch of returnees to make the journey since the partial reopening of the key transit point earlier this month, a painfully slow process riven by Israeli military control. The group of returnees arrived on …

13-02-2026 TEHRAN: Iran’s authorities have ratcheted up the messaging and reciprocal threats against the United States during state-organized rallies and celebrations commemorating the Islamic revolution across the country, one month after deadly nationwide protests. Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” rang out on Wednesday in the state-run …

13-02-2026 JAKARTA: Indonesia is preparing for the potential deployment of 5,000 to 8,000 troops to Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, the country’s army chief of staff, Maruli Simanjuntak, said Monday following a security meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta. Maruli stressed that details on the …

13-02-2026 LOS ANGELES: The world’s largest social media companies have been accused of creating “addiction machines” as a landmark trial began in California examining the mental health effects of Instagram and YouTube. In his opening argument before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and a jury, Mark Lanier …

12-02-2026 SYDNEY: Australian leaders on Tuesday urged calm and called for protests to remain peaceful after clashes between police and demonstrators opposing President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia erupted in Sydney. Police said 27 people were arrested, including 10 for allegedly assaulting officers, after violence broke out on Monday evening …

12-02-2026 PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to assert itself on the world stage, saying it is time to start acting like a “power”. In the face of growing threats from China, Russia and now the US, he told a group of European newspapers that the continent faced …

12-02-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s government said social media companies would have to take down unlawful content within three hours of being notified about it, tightening on Tuesday an earlier 36-hour timeline in what could be a compliance challenge for Meta, YouTube and X. The changes amend India’s 2021 …