26-07-2025 ISTANBUL/ TEHRAN: Iran on Thursday reaffirmed its right to enrich uranium, saying it was “unshakable”, on the eve of key talks with European powers threatening to re-impose nuclear sanctions. Friday’s meeting, set to take place in Istanbul, will be the first since Israel’s mid-June attack targeting key nuclear and …

26-07-2025 UNITED NATIONS/ GAZA STRIP: One in five children in Gaza City is malnourished and cases are increasing every day, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) says. In a statement issued on Thursday, Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini cited a colleague telling him: “People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, …

26-07-2025 BRUSSELS: EU-China relations have reached an “inflection point”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a one-day summit in Beijing. “As our co-operation has deepened, so have imbalances,” von der Leyen said, referring to the European Union’s huge trade deficit with China. …

26-07-2025 PARIS: France will officially recognize a Palestinian state in September, President Emmanuel Macron has said. In a post on social media, Macron said the formal announcement would be made at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York. “The urgent need today is for the war in …

25-07-2025 CANBERRA/ WASHINGTON: Australia has announced that it will lift tough restrictions on beef imports from the United States, removing measures singled out for criticism by US President Donald Trump. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the government would remove the biosecurity restrictions after a “rigorous science and risk-based assessment” found …

25-07-2025 GAZA STRIP/ JERUSALEM/ BEIRUT: A senior Hamas source told media on Thursday that there was still a chance of reaching a Gaza ceasefire agreement but it would take a few days because of what he called Israeli stalling. The source said Hamas’ response to the latest ceasefire proposal included …

25-07-2025 MOSCOW: All 48 passengers and crew on board a passenger plane that crashed in poor weather conditions in Russia’s Far East have died, the head of the country’s Amur region has confirmed in a statement. The Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief said earlier on Thursday that …

25-07-2025 LONDON: LONDON/ NEW DELHI: Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. The two countries concluded talks …

25-07-2025 DHAKA: Former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, “issued an open order” to “use lethal weapons” on students protesting against her government’s policies last year and shoot “wherever they find them”, her secret phone call recordings, accessed by media, have revealed. Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 years, resigned …

25-07-2025 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has said it will invest approximately $3bn in real estate and infrastructure projects in Syria, the latest economic lifeline to help usher in a new chapter in the nation, devastated by a nearly 14-year civil war. The $2.9bn investment is part of a broader $6.4bn in …