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08-05-2026 KYIV: Ukrainian troops are rapidly increasing medium-range drone strikes on Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday, demonstrating a ‌growing capability for Kyiv’s outmanned military as it fights Moscow in the fifth year of the war. As Kyiv confronts renewed Russian offensives along the eastern front, it is …

08-05-2026 ANKARA: Turkish nationalist party leader Devlet Bahceli said ‌on Tuesday the jailed head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) should be given an official role to help advance a peace process aimed at ending a decades-long conflict. Bahceli, a close ally of President Tayyip Erdogan who in 2024 …

08-05-2026 WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the ceasefire with Iran was not over, even as the US and Iran exchanged fire in the Gulf as they wrestled for ‌control of the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth said the US had successfully secured a path through the …

08-05-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: The rupee slid to a record low on Tuesday as a fragile truce in the Middle East came under strain after the US and Iran launched new attacks to wrestle for control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy supplies. The …

08-05-2026 DUBAI/ TEHRAN/ WASHINGTON: A fragile truce in the Middle East was under strain on Tuesday after the US and Iran exchanged fire in the Gulf as they wrestled for control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in a social media post on Tuesday …

07-05-2026 TEHRAN/ WASHINGTON: Brent crude oil jumped around 2% on Monday and the dollar strengthened amid conflicting reports from Iran and the US about American warships in the Strait of Hormuz. US stocks were mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.5%, the S&P 500 0.05% lower and the …

07-05-2026 AMSTERDAM: Amsterdam has become the world’s first capital city to ban public advertisements for both meat and fossil fuel products. Since 1 May, adverts for burgers, petrol cars and airlines have been stripped from billboards, tram shelters, and metro stations. At one of the city’s busiest tram stops, adjacent …

07-05-2026 ABUJA: Two of Nigeria’s most prominent opposition figures have announced they have switched parties in a dramatic political realignment ahead of next year’s presidential election. Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, who finished third and fourth respectively in the 2023 presidential race, have both joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), …

07-05-2026 BRUSSELS: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte says European leaders have “gotten the message” after United States President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with NATO allies, accusing them of not doing enough to support the US-Israel …

07-05-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ KOLKATA: For years, India’s West Bengal state was the great exception to Narendra Modi’s political advance. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had swept through India’s Hindi-speaking heartland, expanded into the west and north-east and overwhelmed once-formidable regional rivals. Yet Bengal argumentative and steeped in a …