International

26-07-2025 KABUL: Since returning to power, the Taliban has made spreading its ideology a key priority. From prisons and rehab facilities to military bases, “religious education” is becoming a cornerstone of Afghanistan’s institutions. By introducing courses in Quranic recitation and exegesis, as well as broader religious instruction, the group aims …

26-07-2025 LONDON: Britons have been urged to avoid all but essential travel to parts of Cambodia and Thailand following escalating conflict in the area. The British foreign ministry has advised Brits to avoid the region, which is experiencing the worst fighting between the countries in 13 years. Thailand scrambled an …

26-07-2025 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s financial crime-fighting agency searched 35 locations linked to Reliance Anil Ambani Group as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and siphoning of public funds, a government source said on Thursday. The Enforcement Directorate alleges the group orchestrated a “well-planned” scheme to siphon …

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 …