The US is working on contingency plans if Iran continues to make nuclear advances and fails to return to international talks, a senior State Department official said Thursday, adding that as the US and allies wait for Tehran to return to nuclear talks, their patience won't last forever. [...]

Merkel saw Germans through crisis after crisis. Now they wonder who'll fill the void

Angela Merkel has been written off many times in her career -- by the politician's rivals, her own party members and, yes, the press. [...]

Hezbollah threatened top judge probing Beirut port blast, source says

Hezbollah has threatened to "usurp" the Lebanese judge investigating the Beirut port blast in a verbal message to him in recent days, a source familiar with the conversation has told CNN. [...]

Modi, Australian PM, agree on 'new initiatives'

Deal to deepen economic ties between two countries [...]

India: Courtroom shooting leaves three dead in Delhi

Assailants sneak into proceedings in lawyer's black robes [...]

PM Modi presents gifts to Kamala Harris, Quad leaders

Harris received a copy of old notifications related to her grandfather, PV Gopalan, in a wooden handicraft frame and a Gulabi Meenakari chess set [...]

South Asia eyes tourism revival with eased restrictions

by Paavan MATHEMA KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Nepal has restarted visas on arrival for vaccinated tourists as South Asian nations attempt to revive tourism businesses devastated after 18 months of the pandemic. A near travel shutdown has been in place in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for more than a year as successive waves of coronavirus took a deadly toll. Nepal reopened to tourists and scrapped quarantine requirements for vaccinated foreigners on Thursday […] [...]

N.Korea leader’s sister demands South drop ‘hostile policies’: KCNA

SEOUL, South (AFP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday said it was “admirable” of the South to propose a formal end to the Korean War but demanded Seoul first drop its “hostile policies” towards Pyongyang. Kim Yo Jong’s remarks, carried by Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency, were in response to South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s recent calls for declaring an official end to the 1950-53 conflict that ended […] [...]

Bitcoin down 6% after China cryptocurrency crackdown

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Bitcoin extended losses Friday after China’s latest crackdown on cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, which had already been falling before the announcement, dropped as much as 6.0 percent in value before trimming losses to stand at $42,256, down 5.5 percent. © Agence France-Presse [...]