World Echo

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that Iran had "always opposed war" yet would not hesitate to "defend against aggression", and resist with "full strength" against enemy forces. He said that Iran had considered "the preservation of the people's interests and regional security to lie in refraining from igniting conflict," but would remain the guardian of the rights of the great Iranian nation." جمهوری اسلامی ایران همواره با جنگ مخالف بوده و حفظ منافع مردم و امنیت منطقه را در پرهیز از آتش افروزی دانسته است. اما چنانکه تا امروز در برابر تجاوز، دلیرانه به دفاع برخاسته است این مقاومت را تا پشیمانی کامل متجاوزان با قوت ادامه خواهد داد و پاسدار حقوق ملت بزرگ ایران خواهد بود. — Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) September 8, 2026 His comments come as Tehran announced new measures to seal off the strait, saying it would soon unveil details of a "maritime exclusion zone" that would extend from the pe...

US military and intelligence officials have begun discussing a potential reduction in personnel and facilities permanently stationed in the Middle East if the Trump administration succeeds in ending the conflict with Iran, CNN reported, citing six sources. The informal discussions could lead to another shift in Washington's military and intelligence posture in a region where the US dramatically expanded its presence following the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to the report. Officials are considering possible cuts even as about 50,000 US troops remain deployed across the Middle East alongside significant military assets, including two aircraft carriers and more than a dozen guided-missile destroyers. The US military has developed several possible options for changing its force structure in the region as early as next year, two sources told CNN. No formal force posture review has been ordered, however. Shifting defence burden to regional partners Senior Pentagon off...

Israeli strikes on a southern Lebanese town early on Monday killed at least 11 people, including two children and two ​medics, Lebanon's state news agency said. Israel has intensified its bombardment of ‌southern Lebanon in recent days despite a June ceasefire that was meant to halt fighting between the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. At least seven ​people were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday. Just after midnight, Israeli warplanes ​hit a residential building in the town of Kfar Rumman ⁠in southern Lebanon, killing nine people, including two children, and wounding five ​more, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. Read: Israel admits killing 5-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza A separate Israeli drone strike on a ​civilian vehicle in the town killed two medics inside the car, it said. The strikes on the town came without an online evacuation warning from the Israeli military. The Israeli ​military did not immediately respond to Reuters' ...

Austria's ban on headscarves for under-14s faces an initial test on Monday as schools reopen in Vienna and other states, with groups ​including the country's main Muslim organisation denouncing it as discriminatory ‌and legal challenges likely. Austria's ruling coalition of three centrist parties proposed the ban in schools, arguing it was acting to protect girls' freedom. The legislation was passed in ​parliament in December with the support of the far-right Freedom ​Party. Only the smallest party in parliament, the left-wing Greens, ⁠opposed it. The group that formally represents Austria's Muslims, the Islamic Religious Community ​in Austria (IGGO), has said the move was an infringement of fundamental rights, ​pledging to fight it before the Constitutional Court, which rejected challenges in July because the legislation had not yet gone into force. The court ruled in 2020 that a ​previous ban, which applied to under-10s in schools, was illegal because ...

The death toll in a building collapse in the Indian capital New Delhi reached six on Monday as the rescue operation entered its second day to find people trapped under the rubble, according to a hospital statement. A building that housed a boys' paying guest hostel in New Delhi’s Satya Niketan area collapsed around noon Sunday, triggering a massive rescue operation by different teams. On Monday, a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in New Delhi confirmed six fatalities. Narendra Bundela, a senior officer of the National Disaster Response Force, which is involved in the rescue, told reporters that "six were declared dead, and five were admitted to hospitals", while “one body is yet to be extricated”. Read: India’s claims have 'no bearing' on Kashmir status: FO Delhi Police said that the building was a “40- to 50-year-old building" and repair work was underway in the basement when the inciden...

Crammed into crowded shelter camps, thousands of expectant and new mothers are struggling for care and privacy as the death toll from devastating flash floods in Nepal reached 1,341, with thousands remaining missing Sunday, officials and local media reports said. The combined death toll from flash floods and mudslides along the Nepal-China border rose to 1,372, while 5,531 people remained missing 11 days after the disaster struck, according to official data. Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said around 5,000 people, including 589 foreigners, remained missing. Chinese authorities said at least 31 people were killed, while 531 others remained missing in the southwestern Xizang Autonomous Region, also known as Tibet. Of those missing, 850 are foreigners, according to official figures from Nepal and China. Read: Nepal flood survivors cling to zipline With roads and bridges damaged due to massive floods and landslides, displaced mothers are...