12-01-2026 BASTROP, TEXAS: Elon Musk has said critics of his social media site X are looking for “any excuse for censorship”, after its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok drew criticism over its use to create sexualized images of people without their knowledge or consent. Ofcom says it is conducting an …

12-01-2026 WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: United States President Donald Trump says Iran is in “big trouble” and again warned he could order military strikes as videos showed antigovernment protests raging across the country and authorities blacked out the internet to restrain growing unrest. “Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that …

12-01-2026 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ DHAKA: On January 3, 2026, a single directive from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) quietly ended the Indian Premier League (IPL) season of Bangladesh’s only cricketer in the tournament, Mustafizur Rahman, before it could even begin. The Kolkata Knight …

11-01-2026 DAMASCUS: The last Kurdish forces present in Aleppo, along with a number of civilians, were transported out on buses after a ceasefire was reached with the Syrian government, the Syrian state news agency reported, with confirmation from a Kurdish commander. Fighting had raged in Syria’s largest city since Tuesday …

11-01-2026 GUATIRE: Venezuela released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists both citizens and foreigners, Thursday in what the government described as a gesture to “seek peace” less than a week after former President Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces to face drug-trafficking charges. US President …

11-01-2026 KYIV: Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile at Ukraine near the EU border overnight, in what Kyiv called a new threat to European security that demanded a global response. Moscow said it had fired the Oreshnik missile in response to what it has described as an attempted drone attack …

11-01-2026 TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for “unity” in the face of “terrorist actions” as mass protests continue to rock the country. In an address broadcast on Iranian state TV on Friday, Khamenei warned against the protests, which the authorities have framed as a plot by …

11-01-2026 KHARTOUM: Millions of people in Sudan are in urgent need of humanitarian help, aid organizations have warned, as the war in the east African state marked its 1,000th day. Fierce fighting and global funding cuts have pushed more than 33 million people towards starvation in what has become one …

11-01-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s trade pact with the United States was delayed because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make a telephone call to President Donald Trump to close a deal they were negotiating, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday. The trade talks fell apart last year …

11-01-2026 WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump has ruled out meeting with Iran’s self-proclaimed Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, suggesting that Washington is not ready to back a successor to the Iranian government, should it collapse. On Thursday, Trump called Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah who was toppled by …