Category: World

WASHINGTON/PARIS: US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday that President Donald Trump is questioning why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military build-up aimed at pressuring them into a nuclear deal. The United States and Iran this week resumed Oman-mediated talks in Geneva aimed at averting the possibility of military action, after Washington dispatched two aircraft carriers, jets and weaponry to the region to back its warnings. In a Fox News interview with Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, Witkoff said the president was “curious” about Iran’s position after…

Read More

NEW YORK: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered a shutdown Sunday of the city’s entire traffic network to all but emergency travel ahead of a massive snowstorm expected to hit the northeast United States. Starting at 9pm Sunday to noon Monday a “state of emergency closes the streets, highways and bridges of New York City for all traffic, cars, trucks, scooters and E-bikes,” Mamdani told reporters. The ban will not affect essential workers or New Yorkers needing to travel due to emergencies, according to Mamdani. New York is home to…

Read More

BENGALURU: Iran agreed a secret 500 million euro ($589 million) arms deal with Russia to acquire thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The agreement, signed in Moscow in December, commits Russia to deliver 500 man-portable “Verba” launch units and 2,500 “9M336” missiles over three years, the FT said, citing leaked Russian documents seen by the FT and several people familiar with the deal. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Under the deal the deliveries are scheduled in three tranches, running from 2027 through 2029,…

Read More

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said it “would be fine” if Israel took control of territory described in a biblical passage as stretching from the Nile River to the Euphrates, remarks he made during a televised interview that sparked broad attention after excerpts circulated online. Huckabee made the comments during an appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show, hosted by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. The discussion centered on religious texts, Israel’s modern borders, and the relationship between theology and geopolitics. During the interview, Carlson read aloud a passage from the Book…

Read More

The US Secret Service said Sunday its agents had shot and killed an armed man who illegally entered the premises of President Donald Trump´s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump was in Washington at the time of the incident, which officials said happened around 1:30am (0630 GMT). “An armed man was shot & killed by US Secret Service agents & @PBCountySheriff after unlawfully entering the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early this morning,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a post on X. The suspect, a man in his early 20s, was…

Read More

KARACHI: The Munich Security Conference has, over the years, developed an unintended reputation. It is not just a venue where policy is discussed, it is a stage on which great powers occasionally drop their diplomatic mask and reveal what they believe the structure of the world should look like. In 2007, Vladimir Putin used that moment to warn that NATO’s steady expansion towards Russia’s borders would not be treated indefinitely as a technical matter of alliance management. Many in the hall heard irritation rather than strategy, dismissing it as routine…

Read More

President Donald Trump’s escalating threats against Iran have raised fresh questions about Washington’s long-term strategy, with officials offering little clarity on what the United States ultimately hopes to achieve through either limited strikes or a broader conflict. Trump has deployed warships and dozens of fighter jets to the Middle East and said he would decide within “10 or 15 days” whether to order military action if no nuclear deal is reached with Tehran. The move has fuelled speculation over potential US objectives — ranging from targeted strikes on the Islamic…

Read More

BRUSSELS: The European Commission called Sunday for Washington to abide by the terms of the trade deal struck last year with the EU, as President Donald Trump announced new global tariff hikes a day after an adverse Supreme Court ruling. “A deal is a deal,” said a commission statement. “As the United States’ largest trading partner, the EU expects the US to honour its commitments set out in the Joint Statement — just as the EU stands by its commitments,” it added. “The European Commission requests full clarity on the steps…

Read More

HONG KONG/ SEOUL/ BEIJING: China is making a “full assessment” of the United States Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and has urged Washington to lift “unilateral tariff measures” on its trading partners, warning that fighting between the two countries is “harmful”. The comments from China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday came days after the highest US court dealt President Donald Trump a stinging defeat by striking down many of the tariffs he has used in a global trade war, including some against rival China. Within hours of the ruling, Trump said he…

Read More

By Mohammad Sohail Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Petr Macinka will make a working trip to the United States of America from February 18 to 24, 2026, where he will hold meetings in Washington, DC, and New York. In Washington on February 19, he will attend the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, to which the Czech Republic was invited as an observer. The program will also include meetings with representatives of the US administration and meetings with representatives of the think…

Read More