Top News

22-03-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India’s government privately proposed in January that firms like Apple, Samsung and Google consider pre-installing its biometric identification app Aadhaar on phones, a move opposed by a group representing the smartphone giants, ‌industry letters show. The tussle over preloading state-run apps has become a recurring …

22-03-2026 GENEVA: FIFA fined the Israeli Football Association (IFA) 150,000 Swiss francs ($190,700) for “multiple breaches” of its anti-discrimination obligations. A report on Thursday by the disciplinary committee of world football’s governing body found the IFA “failed to take meaningful action against Beitar Jerusalem” for “persistent and well-documented racist behavior”. …

22-03-2026 TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran used only a “fraction” of its firepower in attacks on regional energy infrastructure after Israel struck Iran’s South Pars gasfield, and warned of “zero restraint” if Iran’s energy facilities are targeted again. Iran’s ⁠attack on the Ras Laffan gas facility will …

22-03-2026 RIYADH: An F-35 fighter jet from the United States has made an emergency landing at an airbase in the Middle East after carrying out a combat mission over Iran, according to US military officials. The aircraft landed safely on Thursday, and the pilot is in stable condition, said Captain …

21-03-2026 BEIRUT/ GAZA STRIP/ DUBAI: Along Beirut’s downtown waterfront, Alaa is looking for somewhere to rest his head. The Syrian refugee, originally from the occupied Golan Heights, is now homeless. He explained that he had already spent the day wandering around the Lebanese capital trying to find shelter. He used …

21-03-2026 WASHINGTON: The top intelligence official in the US said on Wednesday that the Iranian regime was “intact” but “largely degraded”. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and other top Trump administration officials testified at a congressional hearing for more than two hours about worldwide threats to the US. It …

21-03-2026 NEW YORK: Music giant Sony Music says it has requested the removal of more than 135,000 songs by fraudsters impersonating its artists on streaming services. The so-called deepfakes were created using generative AI, and targeted some of the company’s biggest acts, who include Beyonce, Queen and Harry Styles The …

21-03-2026 BANGKOK: Thailand’s Anutin Charnvirakul sailed through a parliamentary vote on Thursday to become the first reelected prime minister in two decades, a ‌fresh mandate that could bring rare stability for the turbulent politics of the Southeast Asian nation. The Bhumjaithai Party’s Anutin led from the start in rout of …

21-03-2026 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: Foreign selling in Indian equities surged in the first half of March, led by financials, marking the heaviest fortnightly selling in 17 months and dragging the Nifty 50 to its worst fortnight since the COVID-19-led ‌rout in March 2020. Foreign portfolio investors’ offloaded stocks worth …

21-03-2026 BERLIN/ PARIS: For a self-described transatlanticist like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the language has been unusually blunt. When President Donald Trump asked countries to join a global effort against Iran and deploy ships to prize open the Strait of Hormuz, whose near closure has held the global economy in …