World Echo

Tens of thousands of people protested on Monday across Italy as part of a day of action to "denounce the genocide in Gaza", which included transport strikes and port blockades. The demonstrations came the same day as France and other countries prepared to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, following recognition by the UK, Australia and Canada on Sunday. Italy's hard-right government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said it will not recognise a Palestinian state for now. Read More: Major US allies break ranks on Palestine In Rome, some 20,0000 people gathered in front of the main Termini train station, according to local police, many of them students, shouting "Free Palestine!" and holding up Palestinian flags. Some had marched via the Colosseum, those at the front holding up a giant banner saying "Against Genocide. Let's block everything." At Termini station, Michelangelo, 17, told AFP he was th...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered US counterpart Donald Trump a nuclear arms control deal to extend the last remaining treaty limiting both countries’ nuclear weapons by one year, while Moscow and Washington discuss what comes next. Russia and the United States possess the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. The New START treaty, the last pact capping their strategic weapons, is due to expire on Feb. 5 next year. The treaty covers strategic nuclear arms – weapons designed to strike the enemy’s military, economic and political centres – and limits deployed warheads to 1,550 per side. Both countries are expected to breach the cap if the pact is not extended or replaced. Read More: Zelensky plans new Trump meeting amid Russia attacks Putin under pressure over Ukraine Putin said his proposal was in the interests of global non-proliferation and could spur dialogue with Washington, though he remains under pressure from Trump to end the war in Ukraine. Moscow says that conflict...

Nepal's interim government, led by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, has set up a panel to investigate the violence during anti-corruption protests this month that killed 74 people and forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to quit, a minister said on Monday. The demonstrations, which began as a Gen-Z led movement against widespread corruption and a lack of jobs, escalated into the Himalayan nation's deadliest violence in decades. More than 2,100 people were injured while protesters set fire to the main office complex that houses the prime minister's office, the Supreme Court and the parliament building as well as malls, luxury hotels and showrooms that the demonstrators said were owned by people close to corrupt politicians. Read: Nepali protesters proud at change Rameshwore Khanal, who Karki put in charge of the finance ministry, said the three-member panel headed by retired judge Gauri Bahadur Karki had been given three months to complete the probe. "It will invest...

An Afghan government defence official said Sunday that a deal over Bagram air base was "not possible", after US President Donald Trump said he wanted the former US base back. Bagram, the largest air base in Afghanistan located north of the capital Kabul, was the centre of US operations in their 20 year-war against the Taliban. Trump threatened unspecified punishment against Afghanistan if it was not returned -- four years after it was abandoned by US troops. "If Afghanistan doesn't give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" the 79-year-old leader wrote on his Truth Social platform. Read More: Pakistan, Taliban, Bagram and shifting geopolitics On Sunday, Fasihuddin Fitrat, chief of staff of Afghanistan's ministry of defence, said "some people" want to take back the base through a "political deal". "Recently, some people have said that they have entered negotiations...

Canada and Australia joined the UK in recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Britain said on Sunday it was recognising a Palestinian state after Israel failed to meet conditions including a ceasefire in the nearly two-year-old Gaza war. "Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X. London's step aligns it with more than 140 other nations but will irk both Israel and its main ally the United States. https://ift.tt/dZVMe8G The decision carries symbolic weight as Britain played a major role in Israel's creation as a modern nation in the aftermath of World War Two and has long been its ally. Read More: Gaza: The Story of a Genocide' launched Canada and Australia also recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday and other countries are expected to do so this week at the...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a public address on Sunday asked citizens to stop using foreign-made products and instead use local ones, pushing for a self-reliant campaign when trade ties with the United States have soured. After US President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on imported Indian goods, Modi has been urging use of "Swadeshi", or made-in-India goods. His supporters have started campaigns to boycott American brands including McDonald's, Pepsi and Apple, which are hugely popular in India. Read More: The US reset in South Asia "A lot of products we use daily are foreign made, we just don't know ... we will have to get rid of them," Modi said in an address to the nation ahead of Monday's implementation of widespread consumer tax cuts. "We should buy products that are made in India," he added, without naming any country. India's population of 1.4 billion is a major market for American consumer goods, often purchased from U...

The afternoon sun beats down on Karachi’s Shahrah-e-Faisal as traffic locks into yet another jam. In an old sedan, a driver taps the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the blinking fuel gauge. At more than Rs. 270 a litre, every refill feels heavier than the last. A few lanes over, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) glides forward almost noiselessly, its driver unbothered by the stop-and-go grind, knowing most of the ride will cost only a fraction in electricity. This quiet contrast says a lot about where Pakistan finds itself. In cities like Karachi and Lahore, congestion is a way of life and the rising price of petrol has become a private calculation in every household. The fumes from endless traffic only add to skies already thick with smog. It is here that New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), a category that includes both plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and fully electric cars (EVs), are being looked at as more than just cars. They promise relief for wallets as well as for the air people breathe. ...