Month: October 2026

Bulgaria has formally asked NATO to deploy combat aircraft and anti-drone systems to bolster its ​defences after a series of drone attacks on ‌commercial shipping in the Black Sea, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Friday. Drones hit two ships which caught fire off Romania’s ​Black Sea coast this week. On Tuesday, a commercial ​vessel sank off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast following ⁠a drone attack, prompting Sofia to summon Russia’s ambassador. The ​attacks have highlighted the growing threat that drone warfare ​linked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses to commercial shipping…

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US President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, is facing growing scrutiny over her legal credentials and has declined to say how frequently she will hold press briefings, raising questions about her approach to communicating with journalists. In an interview with The Guardian on Thursday, Zacharia said the frequency of future briefings remained “unknown at this time”, adding that Trump was “his best spokesperson” and that she would interact with the press as needed. Zacharia replaced Karoline Leavitt after a rapid recruitment process. She said she received a call…

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A proposal by the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board to introduce uniform Friday sermons at mosques across Indian-administered Kashmir has sparked strong opposition from Muslim scholars and political leaders, who say the move could undermine religious freedom. The board, headed by Darakshan Andrabi, a leader associated with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced the proposal last weekend. Andrabi initially said a committee of senior religious scholars would prepare sermons addressing social issues, including drug abuse. The announcement prompted criticism from religious leaders, who argued that decisions about sermon content…

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Elon Musk has accused powerful Indian business interests of obstructing Starlink’s entry into the country, but government licensing requirements and concerns over control of internet access remain major hurdles for the satellite internet service. Musk, the world’s richest man, claimed on his social media platform that Starlink was being blocked by “certain oligarchs” to protect their dominance in India’s telecommunications market. He specifically pointed to Mukesh Ambani, owner of Jio, the country’s largest mobile network. Jio is developing its own low-Earth-orbit satellite system that could compete with Starlink. However, Jio…

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Police foiled a terrorist attack on the Spin Mela police post in Peshawar’s Hassan Khel area on Friday, but one police officer was martyred, and three others were injured during an exchange of fire, officials said. According to Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), police personnel on duty retaliated against the attackers during an intense gun battle, forcing them to retreat. Police officials said more than 30 heavily armed terrorists attacked the post from two directions. Reports suggested several attackers were injured during the exchange of fire, but authorities said…

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New US sanctions targeting Iranian airlines have disrupted international flights, forcing travellers to take lengthy detours and pay sharply higher fares, with journeys from Tehran to Dubai now taking up to 18 hours and costing more than $1,000. In late September, direct flights between Tehran and Dubai took less than three hours and typically cost between $100 and $200. The disruption followed a September 23 deadline for companies to stop providing services to Iranian airlines, leading to the suspension of direct flights between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. As…

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Security was stepped up, and police warned of traffic disruptions in ‌the Indian capital, Delhi, on Friday as the ‘cockroach’ movement called for a rally in the central business district, its latest in a series of protests demanding the resignation of India’s election chief. The youth-led ‘Cockroach Janta Party’, opposition groups, ​and student organisations have held almost daily protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh ​Kumar’s resignation over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister ⁠Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. More than 130 million voters…

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