WORLD

NEW YORK, 23 August, 2026 (News Desk): Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best way for Iran to move beyond what he described as a situation of “neither war nor peace,” as tensions continued across the Middle East. “There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,” Pezeshkian said in a speech published by Iran’s state-run IRNA early Sunday. He added that the supreme leader sets the country’s policies and that the government would follow that path.The memorandum of understanding signed by US President Donald Trump in June set a 60-day deadline for ending the war with Iran and reaching an agreement on its nuclear programme. That period ended last week, but there have been no clear signs of...

WASHINGTON, 23 August, 2026 (News Desk): US President Donald Trump hit back at Canada on Sunday after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States following a breakdown in trade negotiations. “Canada wants the benefits of being a state, without being one!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of tariffs. No more!!!” he said. Carney said on Saturday that new Canadian tariffs would take effect on September 8, notably targeting the US steel and dairy industries. New 50 per cent US tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 per cent of Canadian exports to the US, came into force on Saturday. The affected products range from hockey sticks to cement. “You’re at ...

CAIRO, 23 August, 2026 (News Desk): Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least two people, including a four-year-old boy, and wounded seven others on Sunday, according to Palestinian health officials.One of the strikes targeted a building in Zawayda in central Gaza after the Israeli military reportedly warned the property’s occupants to leave the area, residents said. Palestinian medics said flying debris and shrapnel from the strike spread across the surrounding area, injuring at least six people. Among those wounded was four-year-old Mohammad Abdel-Salam Taha, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The attack reduced the targeted building to a pile of twisted steel and concrete, according to residents. “There is no ceasefire, there is nothing,” said Abu Ahmed, a displaced...

 STOCKHOLM, 23 August 2026 (Ghufran): Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man accused of attacking students at a high school with a sword was involved in online communities promoting school violence. The attack took place on Friday at a school in the central Swedish town of Fagersta, where one teenage girl was killed and two teenage boys were seriously injured. The suspect was arrested by police following the attack.According to local newspaper Fagersta-Posten, the parents of a 17-year-old girl confirmed that their daughter was among those killed in the attack. A police source told Reuters that investigators are examining whether a TikTok account that posted a picture of a sword around 20 minutes before the assault belonged to the suspect. Swedish newspaper Dag...

 NEW DELHI, 23 August 2026 (Kamran Raja): Search-and-rescue operations continued off India’s eastern coast on Sunday for 22 crew members who remain missing after a Panama-flagged cargo vessel, Ocean Winner, sank with 24 people on board. According to Indian officials, two Chinese nationals were rescued after the vessel sank. The rescued seafarers told authorities that the ship developed a severe list on Friday and sank within about eight minutes, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel. Shyam Jagannathan, Director General of India’s Maritime Administration, said the chances of finding survivors generally decline sharply after 12 hours, but rescue teams were continuing their efforts to locate the missing crew members. The Indian Coast Guard said 22 crew members remain unaccounted for...

MUSCAT, 22 August, 2026 (Nosheen): Oman’s long-standing role as a diplomatic bridge between the United States and Iran is facing renewed pressure as Muscat seeks to maintain its strategic partnership with Washington while preserving close relations with Tehran.The situation has become more challenging after US President Donald Trump threatened to take military action against Oman if it obstructed US efforts to end the conflict with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Washington and Tehran remain divided over how to end their months-long conflict, while Oman has continued separate discussions with Iran over arrangements for navigation through the strategically important waterway.The United States and Iran had previously reached an understanding that included Oman conducting dialogue with ...

 TUNIS, 22 August, 2026 (Ghufran): At least 13 Tunisians are missing after a migrant boat sank off the Tunisian coast while travelling towards Italy, while two people were rescued, according to the head of a migrant rights group. Mostafa Abdelkebir, head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, said the boat had departed early Thursday.One of the two survivors told rescuers aboard a local boat that they had remained stranded at sea for several hours after their vessel capsized. The second survivor was in critical condition, Abdelkebir said. Tunisia was previously a major departure point for migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean, but departures have declined sharply over the past two years amid a crackdown and tighter maritime controls, supported by European funding a...

 TEHRAN, 22 August, 2026 (Kamran Raja): Iran has warned that any new US threats would trigger a “devastating” response after Washington announced plans to impose what it described as the toughest financial sanctions in history against Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would provide details of the planned sanctions on Monday, after President Donald Trump warned that countries providing “any type of lifeline” to Iran would face economic consequences. Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said Iran’s response to any new threats would be broad and decisive. According to Iranian media, Abdollahi said Iran’s armed forces were prepared across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace to respond to what he described as new enemy threats wit...

 WASHINGTON, 22 August, 2026 (Nosheen): The United States and Canada have failed to reach a trade agreement, with Washington announcing plans to impose 50% tariffs on certain Canadian imports, escalating trade tensions between the two long-time allies. A senior Trump administration official said tariffs under Section 338 covering around $20 billion worth of Canadian goods would take effect shortly after midnight on Saturday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had suspended trade negotiations with the United States and directed Canadian negotiators to return to Ottawa. He also said Canada would respond to the new US tariffs on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The decision followed three days of negotiations in Washington between Canada’s Minister for Trade with the United St...

  WASHINGTON, 22 August, 2026 (Ghufran): A US federal judge has struck down a Trump administration policy that suspended the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, including Pakistan, ruling that the policy exceeded the statutory authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. US District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan described the policy announced by the State Department in January as unlawful and said it conflicted with federal immigration law governing the processing of immigrant visas by consular officers. The suspension affected applicants from several regions, including Pakistan and Bangladesh in South Asia, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in Latin America, Bosnia and Albania in the Balkans, as well as countries across Africa, the Middle East...