Author: Disha Mishra
Iran delivered a conciliatory message to Western leaders in Davos on Wednesday, with a top official denying it wants nuclear weapons and offering talks about opportunities, days after its arch adversary Donald Trump’s return to the White House. However, the comments by Iran’s Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif coincided with a warning by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog that Tehran is “pressing the gas pedal” in enriching uranium to near weapons-grade. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi has called for diplomacy between Iran and Trump, who in his first term, pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear…
U.S. President Donald Trumpon Tuesday vowed to hit the European Union with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the U.S. via Mexico and Canada. Trump voiced his latest tariff threats in remarks to reporters at the White House a day after taking office without immediately imposing tariffs as he had promised during his campaign. Financial markets and trade groups exhaled briefly on Tuesday, but his latest comments underscored Trump’s longstanding desire for broader duties and a new Feb. 1 deadline for 25% tariffs against…
The United States, Australia, India and Japan recommitted to working together on Tuesday, after the first meeting of the China-focused “Quad” grouping’s top diplomats since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. In a joint statement after the talks in Washington, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first day in the job, the four nations said officials would meet regularly to prepare for an upcoming leaders’ summit in India, expected this year. The four countries share concerns about China’s growing power and analysts said the meeting was designed to signal that countering Beijing is a…
England begin their white-ball era under Brendon McCullum in a Twenty20 series against India beginning in Kolkata on Wednesday with the coach promising the same attacking brand of cricket that has been the hallmark of his coaching. McCullum injected an aggressive approach to the test squad after taking over in 2022, with Matthew Mott continuing to coach England in the shorter formats. However, Mott stepped down last year after England failed to defend their T20 and 50-overs World Cup titles in the space of seven months across 2023-24 and McCullum was tasked with reviving their limited-overs fortunes. “Obviously, we want…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a boost to a female Oklahoma death row inmate who claimed her 2004 conviction for murdering her estranged husband was tainted by what her lawyers called “sexist stereotyping” by prosecutors who presented to the jury evidence about her sex life and revealing clothing. The justices in an unsigned ruling threw out a lower court’s decision rejecting inmate Brenda Andrew’s claim that her right to due process under the U.S. Constitution was violated by the type of prosecution evidence admitted during her trial. Her lawyers had called the evidence irrelevant and prejudicial. She was…
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear Republican former Iowa congressman Steve King’s bid to avoid paying a small judgment for having used without permission an internet meme – the “Success Kid” photo of a determined-looking 11-month-old baby at the beach – to promote his 2020 reelection campaign. The justices turned away King’s appeal of a lower court’s decision upholding a jury’s verdict that his election campaign organization owed Laney Griner, the mother of boy shown in the copyrighted photo, $750 for posting the image in campaign ads. The 2007 photo of little Sammy Griner became a popular…
Hamas released three Israeli hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East. The truce allowed Palestinians to return to bombed-out neighborhoods to begin rebuilding their lives, while relief trucks delivered much-needed aid. Elsewhere in Gaza, crowds cheered Hamas fighters who emerged from hiding. Fireworks were launched in celebration as buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah on the West Bank, where thousands of people waited to welcome them. Those freed from Israeli prisons included 69 women and…
Los Angeles officials told most evacuees from the wildfires on Thursday to stay away from their homes at least another week as emergency responders remove toxic waste from incinerated neighborhoods and cut off electricity and gas lines posing a hazard amid the ruins. Landslides further endangered the devastated hillsides, where leveled structures no longer hold earth in place and water from fire hoses and broken pipes has saturated the ground, adding more stress and heartache to people suffering the worst natural disaster in Los Angeles history. With wildfires burning for a 10th day, firefighters expressed relief over withstanding recent red…
(Reuters) – Israel on Saturday approved a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas that involves release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces struck in the enclave before the agreement’s scheduled start on Sunday. The agreement is set to halt a 15-month-old war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers Hamas that has decimated the Gaza Strip, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destabilised the Middle East. The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than…
(Reuters) – India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM.NS), on Saturday reported a 10% rise in quarterly profit as it boosted lending, although provisions for potential bad loans surged. The Mumbai-based private lender’s standalone net profit – which excludes earnings from its subsidiaries – rose to 33.05 billion rupees ($382 million) in the three months to end-December, in line with an LSEG consensus estimate. Its net interest income, the difference between what a bank earns on loans and pays out on deposits, rose 10% to 71.96 billion rupees. The net interest margin shrank to 4.93% from 5.22% a year earlier, but was…