Iranians and Qataris are among the more than 1.7 million Muslims gathered in the holy city of Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, even though the governments in Tehran and Doha are at odds with Saudi Arabia. Despite closing the border with Qatar on June 5 as part of the Gulf countries’ economic and diplomatic offensive […]
The government does not plan to reintroduce Rs 1,000 notes that were taken out of circulation by the demonetisation of high-value currency last November, a senior official said on Tuesday “There is no proposal to reintroduce Rs 1000 note,” Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said in a tweet. On Friday, the Reserve Bank of […]
The US city of Houston has declared a night-time curfew as it battles the impact of Hurricane Harvey, media reports said. The storm has dumped record rainfall, leaving large parts of the city underwater, homes destroyed and at least 15 people reported dead, the BBC said. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the curfew was needed […]
North Korea has said its firing of a missile over Japan was “the first step” of military operations in the Pacific, signalling plans for more launches, media reports said. North Korea’s official news agency KCNA has also repeated threats to the US Pacific island of Guam, and called it “an advanced base of invasion”, the […]
India has suggested diverting a portion of the peacekeeping budget to the under-funded peace-building activities because there can be lasting peace only with development and political solutions. Criticising UN peacekeeping, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative Tanmaya Lal called on Tuesday for reforming the operations to align them with peace-building objectives and finding political solutions to conflicts […]
Around 700 Islamic State militants and their families started evacuating their last stronghold in western Qalamoun region toward the eastern city of Bukamal on Monday, according to Xinhua reporters at the site. Around 300 IS militants were among those who evacuated and the rest are their family members. A total of 16 buses carrying the […]
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to roll back limits on the flow of surplus military gear, including high-caliber weapons and grenade launchers, to local police departments. The directive Trump signed lifts restrictions put place two years ago by former President Barack Obama amid a nationwide outcry over the police use […]
France’s President on Monday welcomed the German chancellor and the Prime Ministers of Italy and Spain to Paris, where the leaders held a summit to examine further security measures that can be taken by the European Union to tackle the threat of terrorism. Emmanuel Macron received Angela Merkel, Paolo Gentiloni and Mariano Rajoy at the […]
Ensuring the supply of nuclear fuel in the event of disruption due to political or market problems is the objective of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Low Enriched Uranium Bank, which opens this week in Kazakhstan. The reserve, scheduled to open on Tuesday, will store 90 tons of low-enriched uranium (LEU), the essential ingredient needed […]
North Korea fired a missile on Tuesday and it fell into the Pacific Ocean off Hokkaido Island after passing over the Japanese archipelago, government officials said here. The missile was fired around 5.58 a.m., from the western coast of North Korea towards a northeastern direction, and passed over Cape Erimo in Hokkaido around 6.06 a.m., […]