International

27-06-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India and ‌the United States discussed pathways to conclude an interim trade deal, the Indian government said in a statement on Wednesday, after talks between its trade minister Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Greer, the top US trade diplomat, is in India …

27-06-2026 TRIPOLI: Four pro-Palestinian campaigners detained in Libya for about a month have been released, the Global Sumud Flotilla group has said. In a statement on Wednesday, the organization said Achraf Khoja from Tunisia, Matias Rodriguez from Uruguay, and Domenico Centrone and Leonarda Alberizia, both from Italy, had all arrived …

27-06-2026 PARIS: Much of Western Europe is bracing for another day of a sweltering heatwave that has smashed temperature records in many countries and left tens of thousands of people without power in France. The extreme weather is being driven by atmospheric and circulation patterns that keep hot air trapped …

27-06-2026 COLOMBO: Experts have warned that Sri Lanka is emerging as a hub for transnational cybercrime, after a crackdown in south-east Asia pushed Chinese-run criminal networks to relocate their vast scam operations. Sri Lankan police spokesperson Fredrick Wootler said the country was witnessing an “alarming increase of cybercrimes” perpetrated by …

26-06-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: More than 2 million aspiring Indian doctors have sat one of the world’s toughest entrance exams for a second time after an alleged question paper leak forced authorities to scrap the original test results. Students arriving at test centers on Sunday were greeted by airport-style …

26-06-2026 HANOI: Police in Vietnam have rescued more than 400 cats in a bust of a cat meat crime ring in Ho Chi Minh City, according to animal welfare groups and local media reports. More than 40 cats were reunited with their owners after the multiday operation last week, but …

26-06-2026 BRUSSELS: EU officials are facing fierce criticism over plans to host the Taliban in Brussels on Tuesday, with rights campaigners and MEPs warning that the meeting risks normalizing a regime that has banned girls from school beyond the sixth grade and sought to erase women from public life, while …

26-06-2026 PARIS/ MADRID: Forty people have drowned in France over recent days as they sought to cool down to escape record heat, the prime minister said on Tuesday, as a heatwave swept across much of Europe. Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Spain were also sweltering in extreme heat, with record temperatures …

26-06-2026 MELBOURNE: A new species of spider which weaves a catapult-like silk trap to snare a single type of ant has been discovered in the remote rainforests of northern Australia. Researchers believe the nocturnal predator developed the unique hunting method to make meals of aggressive ants which are notoriously dangerous …

26-06-2026 NEW YORK: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has doubled down on his criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) after being asked whether calling the pro-Israel lobbying group “monsters” could be dangerous. Mamdani last week denounced the pro-Israel lobby’s spending in a New York primary election …