International

08-06-2026 WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has passed a measure that seeks to halt President Donald Trump from taking further military action in Iran. The 215-208 vote, which is largely symbolic, was successful after four Republicans joined Democrats in a public show of disapproval of the war, which began …

08-06-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Are electric vehicles finally going mainstream in India? A slew of indicators suggests the transition may finally be gathering momentum. The market for electric cars expanded by a solid 25% in the year ending March 2026, while EVs crossed the important 5% threshold in India’s …

08-06-2026 JAKARTA: Indonesian officials on Wednesday arrested the former head of the country’s free school meals program, blighted by mass food poisonings and corruption claims, a day after he was fired. The much-hyped billion-dollar feeding scheme was the flagship policy of President Prabowo Subianto’s 2024 election campaign. Prabowo fired Dadan …

08-06-2026 DUBAI/ TEHRAN: The Sea is sometimes so tranquil that Captain Hassan Khan forgets his ship has been stuck in the middle of a war zone for three months. “It is really strange that everything looks normal outside but people inside are not calm,” says the Pakistani sailor, who doesn’t …

07-06-2026 MOSCOW: If Vladimir Putin’s Russia had an official slogan, what would it be? “Russia is what it is, and we’re not ashamed of showing it,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once told me in an interview. That fits but I recently heard an updated version from veteran pop and folk …

07-06-2026 WASHINGTON/ JERUSALEM: Donald Trump has become the latest US president to find himself at odds with Benjamin Netanyahu, after reportedly clashing with the Israeli prime minister over military action in Lebanon that has thrown Washington’s Iran diplomacy into crisis. Tehran responded to Israel’s strikes on Lebanon by threatening to …

07-06-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Dozens of people have been killed and injured after a fire tore through a multi-storey building in south Delhi, police in India’s capital say. Many of the victims were foreigners including people from South Asian and African countries who had travelled to India for medical …

07-06-2026 JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON/ CAIRO: Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the implementation of a ceasefire, the US State Department has announced in a statement. The agreement is “contingent on a complete cessation” of attacks from the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, among other conditions. It comes after Israeli strikes killed at …

07-06-2026 JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON: A Democratic lawmaker in the United States has grilled top diplomat Marco Rubio on whether Israel has nuclear weapons, but the secretary of state did not provide a clear answer. “Most of the world assesses that they do,” Rubio told Congressman Joaquin Castro at a hearing on …

07-06-2026 WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no progress has been made in talks with the United States, though channels of communication remain open. Araghchi also defended Tehran’s attacks on US allies in the Gulf region as “self-defence” and warned: “What sanctions and war failed to achieve won’t …