June 20, 2025 12:15 PM

Europeans try to coax Iran back to diplomacy, as Trump considers strikes

European foreign ministers are set to meet their Iranian counterpart on Friday aiming to create a pathway back to diplomacy over its contested nuclear programme despite the U.S. considering joining Israeli strikes against Iran. Ministers from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, as well as the European Union's foreign policy chief spoke to Abbas Araqchi earlier this week and have been coordinating with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In a rare call, they pressed upon Araqchi the ...

June 20, 2025 12:00 PM

Russia says any use of tactical nuclear weapons by US in Iran would be catastrophic, TASS reports

Potential use of tactical nuclear weapons by the United States in Iran would be a catastrophic development, Russian state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday. Peskov was commenting on what he called speculative media reports about that possibility. His comments, as reported by TASS, did not mention any media by name. The Guardian newspaper reported that U.S. defence officials were briefed that using conventional bombs against Iran's underground uranium e...

June 20, 2025 10:02 AM

US top diplomat Rubio discussed Israel-Iran war with key partners

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met British foreign minister David Lammy on Thursday and held separate calls with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to discuss the war between U.S. ally Israel and its regional rival Iran. KEY QUOTES The U.S. State Department said that Rubio and the foreign ministers agreed that "Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon." Lammy said the same on X while addin...

June 18, 2025 4:08 PM

Trump’s bid to bar foreign students from Harvard threatens Kennedy School’s lifeblood

When 35-year-old Oscar Escobar completed his term as the youngest elected mayor in his Colombian hometown in 2023, he was accepted into a program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government tailored to aspiring global leaders like him. If the Trump administration gets its way, Escobar may be among the last foreign students for the foreseeable future to attend the Kennedy School, widely considered one of the world's best schools for preparing future policymakers. Last month, th...

June 18, 2025 3:07 PM

Iran will respond firmly if US becomes directly involved in Israeli strikes, says UN ambassador

Iran has conveyed to Washington that it will respond firmly to the United States if it becomes directly involved in Israel's military campaign, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said on Wednesday. Ali Bahreini told reporters that he saw the U.S. as "complicit in what Israel is doing". Iran would set a red line, and respond if the United States crosses it, he said, without specifying what actions would provoke a response. Israel launched an air war on Friday after saying it...

June 18, 2025 1:31 PM

Zelenskiy leaves G7 with no Trump meeting or fresh arms support from US

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy left the Group of Seven summit on Tuesday with new aid from host Canada for its war against Russia but said diplomacy is in "crisis" having missed the chance to press U.S. President Donald Trump for more weapons. The G7 wealthy nations struggled to find unity over the conflict in Ukraine after Trump expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and left a day early to address the Israel-Iran conflict from Washington. A Canadian official initiall...

June 18, 2025 11:02 AM

Trump calls for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ as Israel-Iran air war enters sixth day

Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday as the air war between the two longtime enemies entered a sixth day despite a call from U.S. President Donald Trump for Tehran's unconditional surrender. The Israeli military said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched toward Israel in the first two hours of Wednesday morning. Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv. Israel told residents in a southwestern area of Tehran to evacuate so its air force could strike Irania...

June 15, 2025 12:28 PM

Iran would face US might ‘at levels never seen before’ if it attacks US: Trump

President Donald Trump said early on Sunday that if Iran attacks the United States in any way, it would face the might of the U.S. military "at levels never seen before." Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the U.S. had nothing to do with an attack on Iran overnight and that "we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!" More to follow. (Reuters)...

June 16, 2025 8:21 AM

International Yoga Day set to rekindle the true spirit of yoga in New York

In a world increasingly obsessed with external forms of wellness, a profound initiative is set to remind us of yoga’s inner essence in the US, as cities globally prepare to celebrate the International Day of Yoga (IDY) on June 21. ‘The Spirit of Yoga’, a special International Day of Yoga celebration, is being co-hosted by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization at the serene Global Harmony House in Great Neck on Long Island on June 22, the organisers said in a statement on Sunday....

June 15, 2025 9:51 AM

After day of nationwide protests, Trump’s military parade rolls through D.C.

President Donald Trump's long-sought military parade rolled though the streets of downtown Washington on Saturday, but the celebration of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary was marred by a day of violence and discord. In the hours before the parade began, hundreds of thousands of Americans marched and rallied in streets in cities from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, protesting Trump's actions while in office, in the largest such actions since his return to power in January. Earlier in the d...