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‘Low-keying it’: Trump bets economic pain will force Iran to buckle over Hormuz

TEHRAN, Aug 10 — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards insisted yesterday that they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States complied with a list of demands, including paying compensation for war damage. Iran’s effective blockade of the crucial

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Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza plan in rare public break with US president

JERUSALEM, Aug 10 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday rejected a US-led Gaza plan endorsed by Hamas, putting distance between himself and President Donald Trump as he tries to shore up his base ahead of close elections. After more

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Afghanistan’s gold rush upends lives and landscapes

KABUL, Aug 9 — In Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province, dozens of excavators operate day and night to extract gold from the mountains where villagers and their livestock once roamed. Thousands of miners are deployed across the Shiwa area, about 50

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So hot: Hong Kong weather observatory posts record high temperature

HONG KONG, Aug 9 — Hong Kong’s weather observatory posted a record high temperature of 36.9 degrees Celsius today as Typhoon Dolphin swept warm air over the city, the meterological service said. The approaching storm has already triggered mass flight cancellations

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Houthis claim drone strike on Saudi oil refinery in latest Red Sea flare-up

SANAA, Aug 9 — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had struck an oil facility on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast after the Gulf kingdom said it had extinguished a fire at the site. The group’s military spokesman

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Indonesian firefighters take to the skies as Mount Bromo wildfire forces park closure, fifth in 2026

JAKARTA, Aug 9 — Indonesian authorities have closed access to a national park on Java island as firefighters battle a wildfire that has raged for nearly a week. The blaze has razed 176 hectares (435 acres) since breaking out on

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Grassroots activists wage war on US police tracking their cars, one disabled camera at a time

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 — A growing grassroots backlash against surveillance cameras that scan vehicle number plates is spreading across the United States, with privacy activists organising online campaigns and some even vandalising the equipment. The surveillance start-up Flock has installed

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Hamas says still ready to go ahead with Gaza plan

GAZA CITY, Aug 8 — Hamas said today it remained ready to proceed with a US-backed Gaza peace plan and urged pressure on Israel, which insists it did not agree to the latest part of the deal. Hamas informed US

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Nepal rescuers find bodies of five climbers killed last year

KATHMANDU, Aug 8 — Rescuers in Nepal have found the bodies of five mountaineers, including three foreigners, killed in an avalanche last year near the Chinese border, a local government official said today. “Five bodies, three foreigners and two Nepalis, who

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Fire crews tame Rotterdam waste plant blaze

THE HAGUE, Aug 8 — A fire broke out last night at a recycling plant near the port of Rotterdam, spewing thick smoke across the area before being brought under control in an all-night operation, authorities said. The blaze prompted

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