World Echo

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security forum now bears "greater responsibility" for safeguarding regional peace and stability, as well as promoting the development and prosperity of its member states, Chinese President Xi Jinping told about 20 world leaders he hosted on Sunday evening. The ongoing SCO Summit shoulders the important mission of building consensus among all parties and stimulating momentum in cooperation, Xi was cited as telling a welcome banquet, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. Also Read: PM looks to China for advanced disaster management technology The two-day summit is being held in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. China and Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin also arrived in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday, Chinese and Russian state media reported, for a regional security summit that China hopes can counter Western influence in global affairs. For the rare four-day visit to Russia's neighbour and largest tr...

In a former classroom, now a makeshift relief camp, pregnant women take refuge from the floods that have ravaged eastern Pakistan, their bodies aching, eyes heavy with exhaustion and silent despair. Waiting for the water that swallowed their homes to recede, women in Chung, a settlement on Lahore's outskirts, have limited access to sanitary pads and essential medicines, including pregnancy-related care. Shumaila Riaz, 19-years-old and seven months pregnant with her first child, spent the past four days in the relief camp, enduring pregnancy cramps. Read More: Record floods displace millions in Punjab "I wanted to think about the child I am going to have, but now, I am not even certain about my own future," she told AFP. Clad in dirty clothes they have worn for days and with unbrushed hair, women huddle in the overcrowded school hosting more than 2,000 people, surrounded by mud and stagnant rainwater. "My body aches a lot and I can't get the medicines I want here,...

During the Biden administration, India rose from the status of an ordinary bilateral trade partner to the position of a “strategic partner” and “most favored nation” in the eyes of Washington. Biden’s White House envisioned India as a counterweight to China’s growing influence in Asia and beyond, pumping extraordinary political, economic, and strategic support into New Delhi. India was projected globally as the next manufacturing hub, replacing China, and US high-tech industries were encouraged to set up captive plants across India. These industries were supposed to produce goods cheaply in India and bring them back to the US, granting India unprecedented access to American markets and raising its global geopolitical standing. The scale of respect, economic incentives, and military cooperation lavished on India was unprecedented and elevated its profile on the world stage. But this sudden elevation inflated India’s ego, making it more assertive, stubborn, and, at times, confrontational...

The prime minister of Yemen's Houthi government and several other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on the capital Sanaa, the news agency run by the group said on Saturday, citing a statement by the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat. A number of others were wounded in Thursday's strike, it said, without providing details.Prime minister of Yemen's Houthi government killed in Israeli strike. Israel said on Friday that the airstrike had targeted the Iran-aligned group's chief of staff, defence minister and other senior officials and that it was verifying the outcome. Read More: Turkey shuts ports and airspace to Israeli vessels and flights Mashat's statement did not make clear whether the Houthi defence minister was among the casualties. The Houthi-run news agency ran a statement from the defence minister shortly after it confirmed the prime minister's death and quoted him as saying the group was ready to confront Israel. The st...

A new $250 "visa integrity fee" imposed on travelers to the United States risks piling more pressure on the struggling travel industry, as overseas arrivals continue to fall due to President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration and hostility to many foreign countries. Overseas travel to the US fell 3.1% year-on-year in July to 19.2 million visitors, according to US government data. It was the fifth month of decline this year, defying expectations that 2025 would see annual inbound visitors finally surpass the pre-pandemic level of 79.4 million. The new visa fee, set to go into effect on October 1, adds an additional hurdle for travelers from non-visa waiver countries like Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and China. The extra charge raises the total visa cost to $442, one of the highest visitor fees in the world, according to the US Travel Association, a membership organization. Read More: What happens if Donald Trump dies in office? "Any friction we add to the tra...

The United States said on Friday it would not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state. A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. Abbas had planned to attend the annual high-level UN General Assembly in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there, where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state. Read More: Israel intensifies military push into Gaza Abbas' office said it was astonished by the visa decision and said it violated the UN "headquarters agreement". Under a 1947 UN "headquarters agreement", the U.S. is generally required to allow access for fore...

At least three people were killed and five others were injured in Indonesia after protesters set fire to a regional parliament building, authorities said on Saturday, marking the first major test for President Prabowo Subianto’s new government. The country’s disaster management agency said in a statement that the cause of the fatalities remained unclear following the blaze on Friday evening in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province. Acording to the Antara news agency, the dead victims allegedly had been trapped in the burning building. The disaster agency said two of the injuries resulted from people jumping out of the building. Protests erupted in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, this week over lawmakers’ salaries and escalated on Friday after a police armored vehicle fatally struck Affan Kurniawan, a ride-hailing driver. Protestors marched to the headquarters of the police mobile brigade in central Jakarta early Friday and some sought to storm the compound. Read: Indonesia...

Egyptian authorities have detained dozens of teenage TikTok influencers in recent weeks, accusing them of offences ranging from violating family values to laundering money. Police have announced multiple arrests, while prosecutors say at least 10 cases of alleged unlawful financial gains are under investigation. Travel bans, asset freezes, and the confiscation of devices have also been imposed. Critics argue the crackdown is part of a broader effort to police speech and tighten state control in a country where social media has long served as one of the few alternatives to heavily state-influenced media. Many of those detained were children during the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Lawyers say vague indecency laws give authorities wide latitude, allowing them to scour old posts for material deemed unlawful and then charge influencers with financial crimes. A star detained One of the most prominent detainees is 19-year-old Mariam Ayman, known online as Suzy El Ordoni...

Turkey's top diplomat said Friday that Ankara had closed its ports and airspace to Israeli ships and planes, with a diplomatic source telling AFP the ban applied to "official" flights. Ties between Turkey and Israel have been shattered by Israel's war in Gaza, with Ankara accusing Israel of committing "genocide" in the tiny Palestinian territory -- a term roundly rejected by Israel -- and suspending all trade ties in May last year. "We have closed our ports to Israeli ships. We do not allow Turkish ships to go to Israeli ports.... We do not allow container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, nor do we allow their aircraft to enter our airspace," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told lawmakers in a televised address. Read More: Israel pressures Gaza as Trump eyes post-war plan Asked for clarification about the minister's remarks, a Turkish diplomatic source said its airspace was "closed to all aircraft carrying w...

A boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week, killing 69 people, officials told AFP Friday. The accident occurred late on Tuesday night when the migrants saw the lights of a town off the coast of Mauritania some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital Nouakchott and "moved to one side, causing it to capsize", a senior coastguard official told AFP. One of the coast guard's patrols had been able to rescue 17 people, the official said. Read More: 669 boats race against rising tide An earlier toll had put the number of dead at 49 but a senior coast guard official later revised it higher to 69. According to a statement from the migrants, the boat had left The Gambia a week earlier with about 160 people on board, including Senegalese and Gambian nationals, the official added. Drownings are frequent during the perilous crossing between Africa and Europe, with strong ocean currents and ramshackle vessels making the long crossing dangerous....

Russia launched one of its heaviest barrages of missiles and drones on Ukraine’s capital overnight Thursday, killing at least 23 people, including four children, and damaging the European Union’s mission and the British Council offices in Kyiv. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed a five-storey residential block was destroyed while several other buildings were severely damaged, describing it as one of the biggest assaults in recent months. Thirty-eight people were injured in the hours-long attack, which struck 13 locations across the country. The attack was the first major combined Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv since US President Donald Trump met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. [Reuters] Ukraine’s air force said Moscow fired nearly 600 drones and 31 missiles, including nine ballistic missiles, in the overnight barrage. Air defences intercepted 563 drones and 26 missiles, though 13 targets suffered direct hits....

Hundreds of UN staff at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have asked rights chief Volker Turk to explicitly describe the Gaza war as an unfolding genocide, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The letter, sent on Wednesday, said staff believe the legal criteria for genocide in the nearly two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza have been met, citing the scale and scope of violations. “OHCHR has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide,” said the letter signed by the Staff Committee on behalf of over 500 employees. “Failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the U.N. and the human rights system itself,” it added. Read More: Israel pressures Gaza as Trump eyes post-war plan The letter cited the UN’s perceived moral failure in the 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed more than 1 million people. There was no immediate response from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which has previously rejected accusations of genocide, ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed overseas on Thursday to meet the leaders of China, Japan and Russia, seeking to build closer diplomatic ties as New Delhi battles fallout from US President Donald Trump's escalating tariff offensive. By drawing nearer to some of the world’s largest economies, including his first visit to China in seven years, Modi hopes to to boost support for his flagship "Make in India" initiative, mainly from Japan, as Trump's measures spur new partnerships. "This will be an opportunity to launch several new initiatives to build greater resilience in the relationship, and to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges," Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said of the Japan visit. Read: US tariffs on Indian goods double to 50% over Russian oil purchases While New Delhi says it is relying on talks to resolve Trump's additional tariffs of up to 50% on Indian exports, Japan's top trade negotiator cancelled a US visit over a s...

At least 25 people were killed and 27 injured when a bus overturned in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, authorities told AFP, a week after the country's deadliest road accident in years, AFP reported. The crash happened "due to the driver's negligence" on a highway near the capital Kabul leading to the southern city of Kandahar, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said. Qani said 25 people were killed and 27 were being treated at hospitals for injuries, the extent of which was not specified. Deadly traffic crashes are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving on highways and a lack of regulation. Last Tuesday, 78 people, including more than a dozen children, were killed in western Herat province when a bus carrying migrants returning from Iran collided with a motorcycle and a truck, according to authorities. In December last year, two bus accidents involving a fuel tanker and a truck on a highway through c...

Floodwaters from the Ravi River surged into Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur on Wednesday, submerging its courtyard and halting pilgrimage at one of Sikhism’s holiest sites. Visuals from the field showed the shrine’s marble steps and courtyard completely inundated, as floodwater swept into the complex overnight. Around 200 to 300 pilgrims were stranded in Kartarpur Corridor, with the armed forces called in to carry out rescue operations. Officials from the Evacuee Trust Property Board confirmed that floodwater had seeped into the compound, reaching nearly three feet in some areas and forcing pilgrimages to a sudden halt. The Punjab government had placed disaster management agencies on high alert on Tuesday, warning of “exceptionally high” inundation risks as relentless monsoon rains, glacial melt, and the release of water from Indian dams combined to swell Pakistan’s rivers. Nearly 190,000 people have since been evacuated from inundated villages, with the military and rescue agen...

At least 30 people were killed as heavy rain set off a landslide on Hindu pilgrimage route in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, according to Indian state-run ANI news agency. Citizens were cautioned to stay indoors at night. The weather office has forecast more rain for the Himalayan region spanning federal territory of the region and mountainous Ladakh. Authorities were trying to restore telecom services in the region where communication was "almost nonexistent", said Omar Abdullah, the chief minister. Still struggling with almost nonexistent communication. There is a trickle of data flowing on Jio mobile but no fixed line WiFi, no browsing, almost no apps, things like X open frustratingly slowly, WhatsApp struggles with anything more than short text messages. Haven’t felt this… — Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) August 27, 2025 Read: Sudden, heavy rain in IIOJK leaves 46 dead The landslide near shrine of Vaishno Devi on the pilgrim's route killed at...

Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink has resigned after eight years with Reuters, criticizing the news agency’s stance on Gaza as a "betrayal of journalists" and accusing it of "justifying and enabling" the killing of 245 journalists in the Palestinian enclave. “At this point it's become impossible for me to maintain a relationship with Reuters given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza,” Zink said Tuesday through the US social media company X. Zink said she worked as a Reuters stringer for eight years, with her photos published by many outlets, including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and others worldwide. Read More:Trump predicts Gaza war end soon, condemns hospital Strike She criticized Reuters’ reporting after the killing of Anas Al-Sharif and an Al Jazeera crew in Gaza, accusing the agency of amplifying Israel’s “entirely baseless claim” that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative, which was “one of countles...

US President Donald Trump, “displeased” with the attack on Al Nasser Hospital, signaled the Gaza conflict will end within two to three weeks. “I think within the next two to three weeks, you’re going to have [a] pretty good, conclusive ending,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It’s got to get over with because between the hunger and all of the other problems – worse than hunger, death, pure death — people [are] being killed. I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that nightmare.” Read: Turkish first lady urges Melania Trump to speak out on Gaza Trump said there was a “very serious” diplomatic effort under way, with the US and Israel pressing Hamas to release hostages. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio added: “It has never stopped. We have always sought a solution, and ultimately, as the president said, we want it to end. It has to end without Hamas.” Israeli protests for hostage deal Protesters in Tel Aviv and other cities demanded an ...

Australia accused Iran on Tuesday of executing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran's ambassador seven days to leave the country, its first such expulsion since World War Two. Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, Australian homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles have been targeted in antisemitic vandalism and arson, while Islamophobic incidents have surged. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had gathered credible intelligence that Iran had directed at least two attacks. "These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil," Albanese told a press briefing. "They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community." Iran had sought to "disguise its involvement" in last year's attacks on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Mel...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Jeddah on Tuesday to express appreciation for his chairmanship of the 21st Extraordinary Session of the Organisation Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers.  The two parties reaffirmed firm solidarity with the Palestinian people. Dar also stressed on “strengthening our [Pakistan and Turkey's] multifaceted cooperation”. Pleased to meet my brother, FM of Türkiye, H.E. Hakan Fidan @HakanFidan, today on sidelines of 21st extraordinary session of #OIC CFM. I expressed my deep appreciation to Türkiye for its leadership role in the capacity of the Chair of the 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers.… pic.twitter.com/43CUVX778E — Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) August 26, 2025 Read: Pursuit of 'Greater Israel' threatens region: Dar Earlier, Dar also held meetings with other officials, including Bangladeshi Advisor for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Touhid Hossain...

India fears a planned Chinese mega-dam in Tibet will reduce water flows on a major river by up to 85% during the dry season, according to four sources familiar with the matter and a government analysis seen by Reuters, prompting Delhi to fast-track plans for its own dam to mitigate the effects. The Indian government has been considering projects since the early 2000s to control the flow of water from Tibet's Angsi Glacier, which sustains more than 100 million people downstream in China, India and Bangladesh. But the plans have been hindered by fierce and occasionally violent resistance from residents of the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, who fear their villages will be submerged and way of life destroyed by any dam. Then in December, China announced that it would build the world's largest hydropower dam in a border county just before the Yarlung Zangbo river crosses into India. That triggered fears in New Delhi that its longtime strategic rival - which has some territorial ...

Katyusha, Russia's first locally born giant panda, enjoys a treat behind her enclosure during a media event celebrating her second birthday at the Moscow Zoo on Sunday, August 24, 2025. Born to Ding Ding and Ru Yi – a pair of pandas on loan from China – she has become the first-ever giant panda born in Russia. Russia's first-ever locally born giant panda, named Katyusha, tastes a treat behind the glass fence of an enclosure during a media event marking her second birthday, at the Moscow Zoo in Moscow, Russia, August 24, 2025.Credit: Reuters Photo On her second birthday, she was gifted a special cake made of fruits, ice, and bamboo, which she ate in front of crowds of Moscow Zoo visitors taking pictures of her. Read: Finnish zoo forced to send pandas back to China due to 'rising care costs' Photo Credits: Reuters Svetlana Akulova, director of the Moscow Zoo, praised Katyusha’s development, adding that she is not just a symbol of Russian-Chinese friendship but also an imp...

After a historic visit to Bangladesh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Jeddah on Monday to take part in the 21st Extraordinary Session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) council of foreign ministers. The foreign ministers and senior officials of member states are to assemble to consider the issue of Israel's assault on Gaza. The Foreign Office detailed the agenda - “to deliberate on coordinated responses to the escalating developments in Palestine, arising from the ongoing Israeli military aggression, proposed plans for full military control over Gaza, and the continuing egregious violations of Palestinian rights”. Dar arrived at the King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah and was received by the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to OIC Ambassador Fawad Sher, Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Farooq and Consul General of Pakistan in Jeddah Khalid Majid. Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad ...

Three young sisters drowned when the rubber boat carrying them and dozens of other migrants got into difficulties on the perilous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy, a German sea rescue charity said on Sunday. RESQSHIP said the bodies of the sisters, aged 9, 11 and 17, were found inside the boat, which was "dangerously overcrowded" and had been buffeted by waves of up to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) before a rescue vessel arrived at the scene. Among the 65 people rescued by the charity's Nadir vessel were three pregnant women, children, and a seven-month-old baby. One person fell overboard earlier in the crossing and remains missing, RESQSHIP added in a statement. Read More: Nigel Farage outlines plan to expel small-boat migrants from Britain It did not give details about the nationality of the three dead girls. The Nadir intercepted the rubber boat, which had departed from Zuwara in Libya overnight on Friday, after being alerted by the hotline rescue operator Al...

Health Ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that 289 Palestinians, including 115 children, have died of starvation amid the ongoing famine crisis in the enclave. Munir al-Bursh, director of the ministry, told Al Jazeera that the situation required a massive humanitarian response, warning that authorities were “in a race against time to address famine.” He said eight Palestinians, including a child, had died from food shortages in the past 24 hours. Moreover, at least 16 Palestinians have been killed across the enclave medical sources reported. The victims included at least seven aid seekers who were killed while waiting for food near distribution points. In the latest 24-hour reporting period, the bodies of 64 people and 278 injured Palestinians have been brought to hospitals across the besieged enclave, hospital officials said. Hospital sources said at least five of the victims were shot while waiting for food near distribution points run by the US-backed GHF. Since the start of Gaza Human...

United State ( protectionism is undermining agricultural cooperation with China, Beijing's ambassador to Washington said, warning that farmers should not bear the price of the trade war between the world's two largest economies. "It goes without saying that protectionism is rampant, casting a shadow over China-US agricultural cooperation," said Xie Feng, according to the transcript of a speech published by the Chinese embassy on Saturday. Agriculture has emerged as a major point of contention between China and the US as the superpowers are locked in a tariff war launched by President Donald Trump. Read: US-China truce for stable global trade China in March slapped levies of up to 15% on $21 billion worth of American agricultural and food products in retaliation for sweeping US tariffs. Washington and Beijing this month extended a truce for 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other's goods. US agricultural exports to China fell 53% in the first half of...

Norway's government said on Sunday that it will contribute approximately 7 billion Norwegian crowns ($696.12 million) of air defence systems to Ukraine. "Together with Germany, we are now ensuring that Ukraine receives powerful air defence systems," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in the statement. Read: Russia hits Ukraine with largest drone, missile attack of war "Germany and Norway are working very closely together to support Ukraine in its fight to defend the country and protect the civilian population against Russian air attacks." Norway and Germany are funding two Patriot systems including missiles. In addition Norway is contributing to the procurement of air defence radar from German manufacturer Hensoldt (HAGG.DE), and air defence systems from Kongsberg (KOG.OL),. ($1 = 10.0558 Norwegian crowns) from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/pdRULMq

  Two Dutch teenagers were found dead in their Istanbul hotel room and their father hospitalised, Turkish media reported on Saturday, with initial suspicion falling on a restaurant meal they had eaten. The boys, aged 15 and 17, were deceased when police and paramedics arrived at the hotel where they were staying, in the Fatih district, near Istanbul's Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar, according to the NTV television channel. "When they arrived, ambulance paramedics noted the two children were deceased. The father was taken to hospital by ambulance" in a state of shock, the channel reported. The three had been vacationing in Turkey and were believed to have gone to the touristy Taksim district for dinner, media said. Read More: How floods turned wedding celebrations into 24 funerals The 57-year-old father told police he had gone with his sons to Taksim "but did not eat", the Haber Turk news outlet reported. Later that evening, after returning to the hotel, the father...