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TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday there were currently no negotiations with the United States but there were talks with Oman over the management of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “We are not currently negotiating with the United States. Our negotiations are with Oman to secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press briefing.

SITAMARHI: Ashok Kumar knows that Narendra Modi changed his life for the better. Ashok remembers, as a child, watching his farmer parents struggle to make ends meet – and how things changed after Modi became prime minister in 2014. His government expanded benefits like cheap cooking gas and direct farm subsidies, giving Ashok and his younger brother Abhishek hope for a better future. Their parents rewarded Modi with votes in three elections. But last week, 25-year-old Ashok found himself demonstrating against Modi next to Jantar Mantar, an 18th-century astronomical observatory that anchors New Delhi’s main protest site. The protests were…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday after he decided to hold off on new “disastrous” strikes against the Islamic republic to pursue a deal. “Obviously, they don’t want to be attacked. They knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming,” Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One. “Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” he said, without providing further details of the venue of the talks or the participants. On Saturday, the US president pulled back…

NEW YORK: Around 60,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as ​wildfires threaten the city of Spokane ‌in Washington state, local officials said Sunday, adding the fires in the region had destroyed 600 ​buildings, including homes and businesses. The Spokane ​Area Fire, which contains three separate blazes, was ⁠threatening the areas under evacuation orders, Spokane Fire ​Chief Tom Williams told Reuters. The fires had burned ​5,390 acres (2,180 hectares) by Sunday, according to a federal incident management team. Williams said the fires had yet ​to be contained. No injuries or deaths had ​been reported, officials said at a Sunday afternoon…

A Chinese industry association has voiced strong opposition to the United States’ decision to add 43 Chinese companies, including cotton textile firms, to the so-called “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List,” saying the move seriously violates the basic rules of international trade. The China Cotton Association (CCA) said in a statement released on Saturday that the US allegations of “forced labor” lack factual and legal basis, noting that China’s cotton industry has consistently followed a market-oriented and modern development path. In Xinjiang, a major cotton-producing region in China, more than 90% of cotton harvesting is now carried out by…

China has released a five-year plan for its national supply and marketing cooperative system, aiming to strengthen agricultural services and ensure food security for the 2026-2030 period. The plan outlines 18 key tasks focused on ensuring food security and advancing rural revitalization, according to the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives. By 2030, the system will build or renovate more than 100 national-level strategic fertilizer depots and about 1,000 county-level distribution centers in major grain-producing counties. For this year, the system aims to build or renovate about 20 national-level strategic fertilizer depots and more than 200 county-level distribution…

More than 20 civic groups in Taiwan have issued a joint statement strongly opposing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities’ move to seek the dissolution of the Chinese Unification Promotion Party. The groups, including Taiwan’s Labor Party and the Cross-Strait Peaceful Development Forum, said the move was a dangerous sign that the DPP authorities were abusing state power to suppress political opponents and called for the immediate withdrawal of the dissolution application. In the statement, the groups accused the DPP authorities of stigmatizing groups that support reunification as “agents of external forces” simply because of political differences, calling the move…

China’s third medical expert team for the Ebola response arrived in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Saturday to support the country’s efforts to strengthen its defenses against the epidemic. Luku Maleyo Marius, a representative of the DRC Health Ministry, welcomed the team at the airport. He said the Ebola situation in the DRC remained severe and response efforts continued to face considerable pressure. The arrival of the Chinese experts would provide strong support for epidemic surveillance, patient treatment and laboratory testing, he said. The DRC stands ready to further strengthen cooperation with China and…

ISLAMABAD (DI NEWS) : His Excellency Mr. Jiang Zaidong, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Pakistan, graced the occasion as Guest of Honour. Major General Wang Zhong, Defence Attaché of China, officials of the Chinese Embassy and senior military officers from Pakistan’s tri-services also attended the ceremony. Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, extended a warm welcome to the distinguished guests and congratulated the PLA on the occasion of its 99th founding anniversary. He paid tribute to the PLA’s remarkable contributions to China’s defence, national development and…

August 1 marks the 99th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). To commemorate the occasion, the six-episode documentary The Road to Victory offers a compelling look at the Chinese military’s modernization. Centered on the theme of “being able to fight and winning battles,” the series vividly portrays the armed forces’ relentless commitment to combat readiness and realistic training. From the first-ever public footage of the PLA Navy’s Type 076 amphibious assault ship Sichuan launching its new-generation decoy flares, to exclusive access to frontline training and the latest main battle equipment across all branches of the military, the…