Polar bear waltz: Fake Trump-Putin AI images shroud Ukraine peace effort

Polar bear waltz: Fake Trump-Putin AI images shroud Ukraine peace effort

As tech platforms scale back content moderation, AI videos spread rapidly, muddying the waters around serious diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war in Ukraine [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS From a fake image of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin dancing in the snow with a polar bear to a fabricated photo of European leaders … Read more

Switzerland, Austria say would host ICC-wanted Putin for peace talks

Switzerland, Austria say would host ICC-wanted Putin for peace talks

The most recent bilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul. File | Photo Credit: Reuters/AP Switzerland and Austria said Tuesday (August 19, 2025) that they would host Russian President Vladimir Putin if he came for talks on peace in Ukraine, despite the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant. French President Emmanuel Macron raised … Read more

China’s Ejiao boom kills six million donkeys a year

China’s Ejiao boom kills six million donkeys a year

According to a report published in June by a U.K.-based charity, nearly 6 million donkeys are killed every year globally to produce a traditional Chinese medicine called Ejiao. This problem of animal cruelty, according to data and reports, is fuelled by a gap between demand and supply in China. It has also led to many … Read more

Syria’s top diplomat, Israeli delegation meet in Paris as U.S. pushes for normalising ties

Syria's top diplomat, Israeli delegation meet in Paris as U.S. pushes for normalising ties

Syria’s foreign minister held a rare direct meeting with an Israeli delegation in Paris on Tuesday (August 19, 2025), talks that were brokered by the United States as part of a diplomatic push for Syria and Israel to normalise relations despite a recent surge in tensions between them. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Foreign … Read more

Death toll from northern Pakistan monsoon floods rises to almost 400

Death toll from northern Pakistan monsoon floods rises to almost 400

Local residents look a damage home which filled with rocks following Monday’s flash flooding due to heavy rains, in Dalori village in Swabi, a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on August 19, 2025. | Photo Credit: AP Rescuers and residents resumed searching on Tuesday for survivors as the death toll from five days of … Read more

Donald Trump cancels August vacation to work on Russia-Ukraine

Donald Trump cancels August vacation to work on Russia-Ukraine

President Donald Trump speaks as France’s President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, right, listen during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, foreground left, and European leaders in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. | Photo Credit: AP The White House on Tuesday (August … Read more

Breaking down the Chinese wall

Breaking down the Chinese wall

As India and China commemorate 75 years of diplomatic engagement this year, strong signs of a diplomatic thaw have emerged. The meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers’ meeting in January; resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in June; … Read more

Macron calls Putin ‘predator’ and ‘ogre at our gates’

Macron calls Putin 'predator' and 'ogre at our gates'

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with the media after a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, at French Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., U.S., on August 18, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (August … Read more

Israel demands release of all hostages after Hamas backs new truce offer

Israel demands release of all hostages after Hamas backs new truce offer

A senior Israeli official on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) said the government stood firm on its call for the release of all hostages in any future Gaza deal, after Hamas accepted a new truce proposal. Mediators are awaiting an official Israeli response to the plan, a day after Hamas signalled its readiness for a fresh … Read more

Trump says U.S. air support possible for Ukraine security guarantee

Trump says U.S. air support possible for Ukraine security guarantee

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, seated from background left, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and President Donald Trump listen during a meeting in the East Room of the White House on August 18, 2025, in Washington. | Photo Credit: AP President Donald Trump said Tuesday (August 19, 2025) that U.S. … Read more