World Echo

At least 43 students were killed and 63 others were wounded on Saturday in an Israeli strike targeting a girls’ school in Minab in Iran's Hormozgan Province, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. Minab’s provincial governor, Mohammad Radmehr, confirmed to IRNA that the Shajareye Tayabeh school had been directly attacked and that many students had been martyred. He said rescue and aid operations were underway at the school, adding that the security situation in the city was under control. Screams of grief filled the air in Minab, Iran, after an US-Israeli attack on an elementary school martyred multiple students. Follow https://t.co/boCY50qfi9 pic.twitter.com/EHlAGawkQn — Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) February 28, 2026 The strike came hours after the United States and Israel launched what they described as coordinated military action against Iran early on Saturday. The attacks marked a sharp intensification of hostilities, further raising fears of a broader regional confli...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday strongly condemned the “unwarranted attacks” against Iran hours after the United States and Israel carried out air strikes on the Islamic Republic, pushing the region to the brink of a wider conflict. FM Dar received a call from Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement posted on its official handle on X. “They reviewed the evolving situation in Iran and the wider region,” it added. DPM/FM Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 received a call from FM of Iran, Seyed Abbas Araghchi. They reviewed the evolving situation in Iran and the wider region. DPM/FM strongly condemned the unwarranted attacks against Iran and called for an immediate halt to escalation… pic.twitter.com/G4eKNfzeRg — Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) February 28, 2026 “DPM/FM strongly condemned the unwarranted attacks against Iran and called for an immediate halt to escalation throug...

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday said he would not accept anyone dragging "the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity", in an indirect message to the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. In a statement released after Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran, Salam noted the "serious developments" in the region and called on "all Lebanese to act with wisdom and patriotism, placing Lebanon and the Lebanese people’s interests above any other consideration". Hezbollah has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since it was established by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Israel had warned Lebanon that it would strike the country hard, targeting civilian infrastructure, including the airport, in the event that Hezbollah gets involved in any US-Iran war. Read: 'Pakistan doing terrifically well,' Trump says on ‘Op Ghazab Lil Haq’ against Afghan Taliban "I ...

An Indian court acquitted the former chief minister of the capital Delhi on Friday in a long-running corruption probe the man had called a "political conspiracy" by the ruling party. Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal was Delhi's chief minister before losing elections in 2025 in the midst of the judicial proceedings. Kejriwal, 57, who spent several months in jail after he was arrested in March 2024 on accusations that his administration received kickbacks from the allocation of liquor licenses, wept as he left court. "Truth has won," Kejriwal told reporters after the verdict, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of using a "political conspiracy" to finish AAP. On Friday, a Delhi court cleared him, his former deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others of all charges. Read More: BJP defeats Arvind Kejriwal, ends AAP rule in Delhi Elections 2025 A key opponent to Modi, he had consistently denied wrongdoing. Rekha...

Pakistani air strikes struck Taliban’s military installations in major urban centres of Afghanistan as part of “Operation Ghazab Lil Haq” launched in response to “unprovoked and miscalculated” attacks on Pakistani border posts on Thursday.  Taliban regime officials confirmed air raids deep inside Afghanistan – as far as capital Kabul, but they would downplay their losses. Kabul residents, however, reported that they heard secondary explosions for hour that rattled homes across the Afghan capital. Video verified by Reuters showed thick plumes of black smoke rising above Darulaman, a residential neighbourhood in western Kabul that also houses several government and military compounds, as a fire engulfed part of the depot and repeated flashes lit up the night sky when ammunition ignited inside. Residents said the bombardment began shortly after midnight. “We were asleep when we heard the sound of a plane,” said Tamim, a taxi driver who lives near the depot. “It came and dropped two bo...

Iran said on Friday that the United States must drop its “excessive demands” to secure an agreement, tempering earlier optimism after talks seen as a last-ditch effort to avert war. The Oman-mediated negotiations come amid repeated threats from US President Donald Trump to strike Iran and a major American military build-up in the region. Trump on February 19 gave Tehran 15 days to reach a deal. While Iran insists the talks should focus solely on its nuclear programme, Washington wants curbs on Tehran’s missile programme and its support for militant groups. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump’s team would demand Iran dismantle its three main nuclear sites and hand over all remaining enriched uranium to the US. Without detailing the demands he referenced, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Egyptian counterpart that “success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands”. pic.tw...

US President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran will soon have a missile capable of striking the United States is not supported by US intelligence reports and appears to be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the assessments. This casts doubt on part of his case for a possible attack on the Islamic Republic. In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump began setting out his case to the American public for why the US could launch strikes against Iran, saying Tehran was “working on missiles that will soon reach” the United States. However, there have been no changes, two sources said, to an unclassified 2025 US Defence Intelligence Agency assessment that Iran could take until 2035 to develop a “militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile” (ICBM) from its existing satellite-launch vehicles (SLVs). “President Trump is absolutely right to highlight the grave concern posed by Iran, a country that chants ‘death to America’, possessing intercontinental...

Chinese lawmakers have stripped five People's Liberation Army generals of their membership in parliament, a statement from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress showed on Thursday. Li Qiaoming, who has been commander of the PLA Ground Force, and Shen Jinlong, former PLA Navy commander, were dismissed as NPC deputies. Also removed were the current or former political commissars of the PLA Navy, Air Force and Information Support Force — Qing Shengxiang, Yu Zhongfu and Li Wei. Several other military officers and a number of provincial officials — including Sun Shaocheng, the former party chief of the Inner Mongolia region — were also removed, the statement showed. Removal of top financial regulator Beijing has become increasingly worried about the sell-off on markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which has wiped trillions off valuations, and has unveiled a string of measures to try to staunch the rout. On February 7, the state broadcaster CCTV said the top leadersh...

India will soon finalise a mutually beneficial free trade agreement with Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. The two countries will also pursue joint development, production and transfer of technology in defence, Modi said at the end of his two-day trip to Israel. On Thursday, Modi said that India and Israel agree there is “no place for terrorism in the world,” as he wrapped up a two-day visit aimed at strengthening ties. The trip, which has drawn criticism at home, marks Modi’s second visit to Israel as prime minister since taking office in 2014. He highlighted future cooperation in areas including technology and energy. “Together, we will move forward towards joint development, joint production and the transfer of technology,” he said. “At the same time, we will also advance our cooperation in areas such as civil nuclear energy and space.” Read More: Modi says India stands 'firmly' with Israel Netanyahu described the visit as “amazing” and “extraordinarily ...

Births in Japan fell for the 10th straight year in 2025, official data showed on Thursday, highlighting mounting challenges for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. A total of 705,809 babies were born, preliminary health ministry data showed, down 2.1% from 2024. The figures include births to Japanese nationals in Japan, foreign births in the country and babies born to Japanese nationals overseas. Meanwhile, 505,656 couples married in 2025, up 1.1%, while divorces fell 3.7% to 182,969 cases. Deaths stood at 1,605,654, down 13,030, or 0.8%, from a year earlier. The internal affairs ministry estimated Japan’s population at 122.86 million as of February, down 0.47%, or about 580,000 people, year-on-year. The world’s fourth-largest economy has one of the lowest birth rates globally and a rapidly ageing, shrinking population. The trend is fuelling labour shortages, swelling social security costs and reducing the number of working taxpayers, further straining Japan’s already heavy public debt — th...

Iran sees the chance of a good outcome from a ‌third round of talks with ⁠the ​United States, its President Masoud Pezeshkian said ​on Wednesday, as ‌a delegation left for Geneva for negotiations ​over Tehran's nuclear program. A senior US official said on Monday that US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald ⁠Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are slated to meet with the Iranian ‌delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in Geneva on Thursday. The two countries resumed negotiations over the long-disputed nuclear programme earlier this month as ⁠the US builds up its military capability ⁠in the Middle ​East ahead ‌of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked. Trump on February 19 said he was giving Tehran about 10 to 15 days to make a deal. "In relation to the talks, we see a ⁠good outlook, tomorrow in the meeting that Dr Araghchi will hold in ⁠Geneva ... we have tried, with the guidance of ...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented a second consecutive year of record fatalities, driven largely by Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza and what it calls an unprecedented campaign against the press. The New York-based media freedom watchdog says more than 60% of the 86 journalists killed by Israeli fire in 2025 were Palestinian reporters covering the war from inside the war-torn enclave, where UN experts and human rights organisations have described the scale and pattern of violence as amounting to genocide. According to the report, more than three-quarters of journalists killed last year died in conflict zones. Ukraine saw four deaths and Sudan nine, only slightly higher than in 2024. Gaza, by contrast, still bore far heavier losses, with Israel responsible for the majority. Since the group began tracking targeted killings of media workers three decades ago, the Israel Defense Forces have been responsible for more such deaths than any other state military. In its ...

Sri Lanka's criminal investigators arrested the country's former intelligence chief on Wednesday in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners. Police said retired Major General Suresh Sallay was taken into custody at dawn in a suburb of the capital, Colombo, in the most high-profile arrest in the long-running investigation. "He was arrested for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday attacks," an investigating officer told AFP. "He has been in touch with people involved in the attacks, even recently." The coordinated bombings targeted three upmarket hotels in the capital, two Roman Catholic churches, and an evangelical Protestant church outside Colombo. The attacks were blamed on a homegrown jihadist group. Read: Iran dismisses missile, nuclear claims after Trump alleges 'sinister ambitions' The Catholic church, which has spearheaded a campaign demanding justice for all victims of the...

The United States imposed a new tariff from Tuesday of 10% on all goods not covered by exemptions, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said, the rate first announced by President ‌Donald Trump on Friday rather than the 15% he promised a day later. Reacting to the US Supreme Court ruling that threw out tariffs it deemed were illegally justified on grounds of an emergency, Trump initially ‌announced a new temporary global tariff of ⁠10%. He said ​on Saturday he would increase it to 15%. But in a notice described as ​intended to "provide guidance regarding the February 20, ‌2026 Presidential Proclamation", CBP said that, aside from ​products covered by exemptions, imports would "be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of 10%". The move added to confusion surrounding US trade policy, with no explanation offered in the notice for why the lower rate had ⁠been used. The Financial Times quoted a White House official as saying the increase up to 15% would come ‌la...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed regional developments, particularly the situations regarding Iran and Afghanistan, with Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani on Tuesday. Both leaders underscored the importance of dialogue, de-escalation and collective efforts to promote peace and stability in the region. According to a joint statement issued after the Doha meeting, both leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in defence and security and reaffirmed the strong and historic ties between Pakistan and Qatar. The prime minister expressed satisfaction with the ongoing collaboration between the armed forces of both countries and emphasised Pakistan’s commitment to further strengthening and expanding the defense partnership. Sheikh Saud praised the professionalism of Pakistan’s armed forces and expressed Qatar’s interest in deepening defence cooperation. The discussions also covered regional developments, particularly regarding Iran and Afghan...

Two military pilots and two market vendors were killed on Tuesday morning when an army helicopter crashed into a fruit market in central Iran, according to state media reports cited by Al Jazeera and Anadolu. The crash occurred in Dorcheh, a town in Isfahan province that hosts a major army airbase. State media said the incident was likely caused by a technical fault, though investigations are ongoing. Footage aired by state television showed the wreckage at the scene and emergency responders extinguishing flames. Read More: What does Trump want in Iran? In a statement, the Army Aviation Training Centre identified the deceased pilots as Colonel Hamed Sarvazad and his co-pilot, Major Mojtaba Kiani. Two merchants working at their stalls in the market were also killed after the helicopter crashed and caught fire. The army said the cause of the crash remains under investigation. Local judiciary chief Asadollah Jafari confirmed that a case has been opened and investigators have been disp...

India’s drug regulator has inspected nearly 90% of the country’s cough syrup makers and found compliance lapses, its chief said on Monday, amid heightened scrutiny after India-made syrups were linked to the deaths of children in the country and abroad. The inspections follow the discovery of a brand of cough syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol that was linked to the deaths of 24 children in October last year. The product, named Coldrif, was made by Sresan Pharmaceutical, based in Tamil Nadu. “We took serious actions on serious non-compliances, and our belief is that the rot of cough syrup manufacturing will be removed,” Drugs Controller General of India Rajeev Raghuvanshi said at the IPA 11th Global Pharmaceutical Quality Summit in Mumbai. The regulator is looking to fix issues around cough syrup products, he said, without providing a timeline. Read More: WHO identifies India-made contaminated cough syrup in Western Pacific The agency is under pressure to tighten oversight of the...

President Donald Trump renewed his condemnation of the United States Supreme Court on Monday after it ruled against his sweeping tariff program last week, vowing to turn to other tariff powers and licenses but giving no details. "The court has also approved all other tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the tariffs as initially used," he wrote in a social media post. https://ift.tt/FWpkQBR Trump said on Saturday he would raise a temporary tariff from 10% to 15% on US imports from all countries, the maximum level allowed under the law, a day after the court ruled that Trump had exceeded his presidential authority when he imposed an array of higher tariff rates under an economic emergency law. In his post today, Trump also pointed to the potential use of licenses to pressure countries, writing that "incomprehensibly, according to the ruling, [I] can’t charge them a licence fee — but...

Iran said Monday that a US attack of any scale would spur the Islamic republic to respond "ferociously", after President Donald Trump said he was considering limited strikes against the country. The United States has built up forces in the Middle East to pile pressure on Iran to make a deal at negotiations due to restart on Thursday, with Trump weighing a limited strike if no agreement is reached. On Monday Iran's foreign ministry reiterated that any strike, even limited, would be "would be regarded as an act of aggression. Period". "And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defence ferociously so that's what we would do," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran attended by an AFP journalist. The two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland on Tuesday under Omani mediation. Further talks, confirmed by Iran and Oman but not by the United States, are sched...

Somaliland is willing to give the United States access to its minerals and military bases, a minister has told AFP, as the breakaway region of Somalia seeks international recognition. Israel became the only country in the world to recognise Somaliland's independence in December -- something the territory has been seeking since declaring its autonomy from Somalia in 1991. The government in Mogadishu still considers Somaliland an integral part of Somalia even though the territory has run its own affairs since 1991, with its own passports, currency, army and police force. "We are willing to give exclusive (access to our minerals) to the United States. Also, we are open to offer military bases to the United States," Khadar Hussein Abdi, minister of the presidency, told AFP in an interview on Saturday. "We believe that we will agree on something with the United States." Somaliland president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi already suggested in recent weeks granting Israe...

Iran and the United States have differing views over sanctions relief in talks to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, adding that new talks were planned in early March as fears of a military confrontation grow. Iran and the US renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East, fuelling fears of a wider war. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the Middle East if it is attacked by US forces. "The last round of talks showed that US ideas regarding the scope and mechanism of sanctions relief differ from Iran’s demands. Both sides need to reach a logical timetable for lifting sanctions," the official said. "This roadmap must be reasonable and based on mutual interests." Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days...

The United Arab Emirates has thwarted organised cyber attacks targeting the country's digital infrastructure and vital sectors, the state-run WAM news agency said on Saturday. The attacks "included attempts to infiltrate networks, deploy ransomware and conduct systematic phishing campaigns targeting national platforms," and involved artificial intelligence technologies to develop offensive tools, it added. The report did not say who was to blame for the attacks. According to the local media, the exploitation of artificial intelligence technologies reflected a qualitative shift in the methods employed by terrorist groups and their ability to harness modern technologies”. The statement came days after the council's head, Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, said there are between 90,000 to 200,000 breach attempts focused on the UAE “every single day” – many of them “state-sponsored”. In a statement to WAM, Al Kuwaiti revealed that state-sponsored/APT accounted for 71.4 per cent of tr...

India moved to deepen trade ties with Brazil on Saturday, signing a pact to expand cooperation in mining and minerals as it seeks to meet rising domestic steel demand and support capacity expansion amid a global race for raw materials. The agreement was signed in the presence of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who arrived in New Delhi earlier this week for a three-day visit. Brazil is among the world's top producers of iron ore and holds large reserves of minerals critical to steelmaking. Closer cooperation is expected to improve India's access to raw materials and technologies needed to sustain long-term growth in its steel sector, an Indian government statement said. The cooperation will focus on attracting investment in exploration, mining and steel sector infrastructure, the statement said. India has a steelmaking capacity of 218 million metric tonnes, and companies are expanding output to meet rising domestic dema...

Cuban security advisers and doctors have been leaving Venezuela as Interim President Delcy Rodriguez's government faces intense pressure from Washington to unwind Latin America’s most consequential leftist alliance, according to 11 sources familiar with the matter. Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has entrusted her protection to Venezuelan bodyguards, according to four of the sources, unlike deposed president Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late president Hugo Chavez, who both relied on elite Cuban forces. Thirty-two Cubans were killed in the US military attack that captured Maduro on January 3, according to the Cuban government. These soldiers and bodyguards were part of a deep security agreement between Caracas and Havana that began in the late 2000s in which Cuban intelligence agents embedded throughout the military and Venezuela’s formidable DGCIM counterintelligence unit, which was fundamental to weeding out domestic opposition. “The Cuban influence w...

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that the US Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump's trade tariffs shows that it is good to have counterweights to power and the rule of law in democracies. "It is not bad to have a Supreme Court and, therefore, the rule of law," he said at the annual agricultural salon in Paris, in response to a question about Friday's ruling by the US Supreme Court that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump under an economic emergency law were illegal. "It is good to have power and counterweights to power in democracies," Macron said. He added that France would consider the consequences of Trump's new 10% global tariff and adapt, and the country wants to continue to export its products, including agricultural, luxury, fashion and aeronautical goods. Read: France repatriates stolen colonial-era 'talking drum' to Ivory Coast He said that a calm mindset was needed and that the fairest rule was "rec...

Gulf countries pledged more than $4 billion in combined financial support to United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as they signalled financial backing for efforts aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and advancing regional stability. The pledges were announced during the first meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington, where Qatar and Saudi Arabia each committed $1b. Kuwait also pledged $1b over the coming years, while the United Arab Emirates announced an additional $1.2b in support for Gaza through the board. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Doha “reaffirms its commitment to the Board of Peace as it was committed to the very first day of the mediation efforts”. “Our responsibility remains to achieve a just and lasting resolution,” he said, adding that the board, under the leadership of President Trump, “will advance the full implementation of the 20-point plan without delay, ensuring fairness and justice for bot...

FIFA and the Board of Peace signed a partnership agreement on Thursday to attract investment from global leaders and institutions for sustainable development in conflict-affected regions through football. The Board of Peace, established under the United States President Donald Trump, held its first meeting focused on Gaza's reconstruction fund, aimed at rebuilding the territory once Hamas disarms. The disarmament of Hamas militants and accompanying withdrawal of Israeli troops, the size of the reconstruction fund and the flow of humanitarian aid to the war-torn population are expected to pose significant challenges to the board's effectiveness in the coming months. Read: PM Shehbaz meets global leaders at 'Board of Peace' summit in Washington The FIFA collaboration plan includes building 50 mini-pitches near schools and residential areas in Gaza, five full-size pitches across multiple districts, a state-of-the-art FIFA academy and a new 20,000-seat national stadium, FIF...

The United States is in "active negotiation" over the sale of Venezuelan oil to India, to help India diversify its sources of crude oil, US Envoy Sergio Gor said on Friday. The US has made diversification away from Russian crude a condition for cutting tariffs on goods imported from Indian, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer. "The Department of Energy is speaking to the Ministry of Energy here, and so we're hoping to have some news of that very soon," Gor told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi where India joined the US-led Pax Silica initiative aimed at building a silicon supply chain for high-tech products. US President Donald Trump this month agreed to cut tariffs on Indian goods to 18% under an interim trade deal. He also removed a 25% punitive levy after India agreed to end the purchase of Russian oil, which the US said helps fund Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He said India would buy more oil from the US and potenti...

Owning a cat offers many health benefits, including reduced stress and emotional support, and new research suggests our feline friends might also offer clues to better treat certain cancers. That's according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science, which investigated cancers in cats and found significant parallels with how the disease plays out in humans. Previous studies had highlighted similar links between dogs and humans, but little research focused on cats, said co-author Louise van der Weyden, a scientist at the British Wellcome Sanger Institute. Cats, just like dogs, provide "a great model for us," she told AFP, because they share an environment with humans that includes similar pollution, such as second-hand smoke. "They develop other illnesses that we do when you get cancer," Van der Weyden told AFP, explaining that cancer can be accompanied by ailments like diabetes or heart disease. Not infrequently, she said, the "animals will h...

Australian police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country's largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan. The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's west on Wednesday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the "Muslim race", local media reported. Police said they had taken the letter for forensic testing and would continue to patrol religious sites, including the mosque, as well as community events. The latest letter comes weeks after a similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire. Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent to Lakemba Mosque's staff in January. Read More: US lawmakers call on congressman to resign over remarks about Muslims The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the mosque, told the Australian Broadcasting Corpo...

King Charles' younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was on Thursday arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over ‌allegations he sent confidential government documents ⁠to Jeffrey ​Epstein, the BBC reported. Thames Valley Police said earlier ​this month officers were considering ‌allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor had passed documents ​to the late convicted sex offender, according to files released by the US government. "Thames Valley Police have opened an investigation into ⁠an offence of misconduct in public office," the force said in a statement ‌on X. "A man in his sixties from Norfolk has been arrested and remains in police custody. As per national guidance we will not name the arrested ⁠man." Thames Valley Police have opened an investigation into an offence of misconduct in public office. A man in his sixties from Norfolk has been arrested and remains in police custody. As per national guidance we will not name the arrested man. Read mo...

Iran's atomic energy chief, Mohammad Eslami, said no country can deprive the Islamic Republic of its right to nuclear enrichment, after US President Donald Trump again hinted at military action following talks in Geneva. "The basis of the nuclear industry is enrichment. Whatever you want to do in the nuclear process, you need nuclear fuel," said Eslami, according to a video published by Etemad daily on Thursday. "Iran's nuclear programme is proceeding according to the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and no country can deprive Iran of the right to peacefully benefit from this technology," he added. The comments follow the second round of Oman-mediated talks between Tehran and Washington in Geneva on Tuesday. Read: Iran says US 'more realistic' on nuclear issue, as Guards begin drills in Hormuz Strait The two countries had held an initial round of discussions on February 6 in Oman, the first since previous talks collapsed during the 12...

An Indian professor has falsely suggested a Chinese-made robot dog displayed at a major AI summit was developed by her university, prompting backlash in a situation that politicians derided as "embarrassing" on Wednesday. The silver mechanical dog — a model sold by the Chinese startup Unitree — appeared at a booth run by the private Galgotias University at this week's AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Following online uproar over the professor's claim in a televised interview, Galgotias said that while it did not build the machine, "what we are building are minds that will soon design, engineer, and manufacture such technologies". pic.twitter.com/cgBbhld876 — Galgotias University (@GalgotiasGU) February 17, 2026 In a statement posted on social media platform X, the university said: "Let us be clear -- Galgotias has not built this robodog, neither have we claimed." The "recently acquired" Unitree robodog is a "classroom in motion" a...