ਸ਼ਨੀਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਰੂਸ ਦੇ ਕਾਮਚਟਕਾ ਖੇਤਰ ਦੇ ਪੂਰਬੀ ਤੱਟ ਦੇ ਨੇੜੇ 7.4 ਤੀਬਰਤਾ ਦਾ ਇੱਕ ਵੱਡਾ ਭੂਚਾਲ ਆਇਆ, ਜਿਸ ਕਾਰਨ ਸੁਨਾਮੀ ਦੀ ਚੇਤਾਵਨੀ ਜਾਰੀ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ।

ਅਮਰੀਕੀ ਭੂ-ਵਿਗਿਆਨਕ ਸਰਵੇਖਣ (USGS) ਦੇ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ, ਇਹ ਭੂਚਾਲ ਰੂਸੀ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਪੈਟ੍ਰੋਪਾਵਲੋਵਸਕ-ਕਾਮਚਟਸਕੀ ਤੋਂ 111 ਕਿਲੋਮੀਟਰ (69 ਮੀਲ) ਪੂਰਬ ਵਿੱਚ, ਕਾਮਚਟਕਾ ਖੇਤਰ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਸਕੀ ਕੇਂਦਰ, 39.5 ਕਿਲੋਮੀਟਰ ਦੀ ਡੂੰਘਾਈ 'ਤੇ ਆਇਆ।

ਭੂਚਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ, ਕਾਮਚਟਕਾ ਖੇਤਰ ਦੇ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀਆਂ ਨੇ ਸੁਨਾਮੀ ਦੀ ਧਮਕੀ ਜਾਰੀ ਕੀਤੀ।

A massive 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck near the east coast of Russia's Kamchatka region on Saturday, prompting a tsunami warning.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor hit 111 kilometres (69 miles) east of the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the administrative centre of the Kamchatka region, at a depth of 39.5 km.

Following the earthquake, local authorities of the Kamchatka territory issued a tsunami threat.

“The threat of a tsunami has been declared. We ask you to be especially careful when visiting the Khalaktyr beach and other tsunami-dangerous areas, ” the governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Vladimir Solodov, wrote on his Telegram channel.

In a gruesome incident, an Indian-origin man was fatally attacked and beheaded at a motel in Dallas, Texas.

According to local media reports, Chandra Nagamallaiah (50), who managed the motel, was repeatedly assaulted with a machete by the accused. The brutal attack left him fatally wounded, and authorities say the assailant also decapitated Nagamallaiah during the assault.

The extreme nature of the violence has shocked the local community and drawn widespread attention.

The accused, Yordanis Cobos-Martinez (37), was arrested and charged with capital murder. He is accused of beheading Nagamallaiah and leaving the victim’s head in a trash bin, authorities said.

Three died and over 50 were injured after a gas tanker truck exploded in Mexico City, with 19 of them in serious condition, local authorities said.

The accident occurred on the Zaragoza road under the Concordia bridge, said Clara Brugada Molina, head of government of the Mexican capital, on the social media platform X on Wednesday (Mexico City time).

It took place at around 2:20 p.m. local time when the truck, with a capacity of 49,500 litres, overturned, and the injured have been rushed to different hospitals, she told local media.

The accident also affected 18 vehicles, and 19 of the injured transferred to hospitals are in serious condition, news agency reported, quoting an official.

The US immigration raid that led to the detention of hundreds of South Korean workers in Georgia may have not only humiliated a close ally of the United States but also left a "deep scar" on the countries' economic ties, heightening uncertainties for foreign investment in the US, industry observers said on Thursday.

US immigration officials arrested about 475 workers, including around 300 South Koreans, during a raid last week at a Georgia construction site for an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant being built by a Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution joint venture, citing alleged unlawful employment practices.

The South Korean workers are expected to return home Friday via a chartered Korean Air flight from Atlanta, reports news agency.

The United States' trade policy is estimated to lower South Korea's economic growth rate by 0.45 percentage point this year, the central bank here said on Thursday.

After months-long negotiations, Seoul and Washington reached a crucial agreement in late July, under which the US imposes a 15 percent tariff on South Korea, down from the initially planned 25 percent, in exchange for an investment pledge of $350 billion in the US, reports news agency.

South Korean companies reported weaker overall growth and profitability in the second quarter due mainly to the impact of the United States' aggressive tariff scheme, the central bank said on Wednesday.

Combined sales of 26,067 companies subject to external audit fell 0.7 percent from a year earlier in the April-June period, reversing from a 2.4 percent on-year gain in the first quarter, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), reports news agency.

It marked the first time since the fourth quarter of 2023 that sales growth turned negative.

Sales in the manufacturing sector declined 1.7 percent in the second quarter, compared with a 2.8 percent increase in the previous quarter, while sales growth in the non-manufacturing sector slowed to 0.3 percent from 1.9 percent over the same period.

 A British aircraft carrier has conducted drills in waters off South Korea's port city of Busan, sending a clear signal of bolstering strategic partnership between the two nations, officials said.

The 65,000-tonne HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier held an aerial capability demonstration in international waters off Busan on Monday, involving F-35B stealth fighter jets embarked on the warship, according to a statement released by the British Embassy in Seoul.

"The visit of HMS Prince of Wales to Korean waters highlights the UK's strong commitment to a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and showcases the depth of our partnership with Korea," said Colin Crooks, the British ambassador to South Korea, in the statement.

Sourabh Gupta, Senior Fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS), countered White House Advisor Peter Navarro’s latest tirade against the BRICS group, calling his statements “wrong on so many points in his single sentence.”

“If he feels they suck like vampires with their trade practices, he is welcome to bring cases against them at the WTO. Of course, he knows that the US will lose all these cases,” he said.

Gupta added that BRICS nations can survive easily without selling to the US. “The trade to GDP ratio, including the ratio of exports to the US, is generally lower for most BRICS countries compared to their middle-income peers. They are mostly less trade-dependent and will survive far more easily without selling to the US.”

Five people were killed in the shooting attack at the Ramot Junction in Jerusalem on Monday, local media reported, citing first responders.

Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said that four victims had died on the spot, while the fifth victim died at a hospital a short while ago.

According to the MDA, at least seven others were in serious condition, two were in moderate condition, and three were in light condition.

The two terrorists who were responsible for the attack were shot by a soldier and a young Haredi man who was armed, The Times of Israel reported, citing Channel 12 reports.

Toshimitsu Motegi, a former foreign minister of Japan, intends to run in the ruling party's presidential election following Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's decision to resign.

Ishiba announced his decision to step down as the head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Sunday, amid growing calls for him to take responsibility for the party's election setback, news agency reported.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has also decided to run, Kyodo News cited party insiders.

The LDP is expected to finalize voting procedures for the election as early as Tuesday, according to the report.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has responded to the White House Advisor Peter Navarro's accusations of spreading “propaganda” on social media platform X, saying people decide the narrative on his social media platform.

The verbal spat between Musk and US senior counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing Navarro happened amid a dispute regarding India's purchases of Russian oil.

Navarro had posted on X that “India buys Russian oil purely to profit. It didn't buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukranians. Stop taking American jobs,” while criticising the Washington Post's coverage of India-US relations.

South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in the United States are likely to return home voluntarily instead of facing deportation, a foreign ministry official said on Monday, as Seoul plans to send a chartered flight after consultations with Washington.

More than 300 South Korean nationals are being held at a detention center in Folkston, Georgia, following Thursday's raid at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site operated by a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution near Savannah, reports news agency.

The Lao state-owned Electricite du Laos (EDL) plans to implement a strategy to strengthen the country's electricity supply in the second half of 2025.

According to Lao Economic Daily on Thursday, senior officials and staff from the EDL and related sectors met to review EDL's performance and outline strategic plans,News Agency reported.

The EDL faced significant challenges in the first half of the year due to global and regional economic volatility, as well as a sluggish domestic recovery. These factors have affected EDL's ability to meet its performance targets, said the report.

The eruption of Klyuchevskoy Volcano, located in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, has ended, leaving behind a new scoria cone in its crater, said the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on its Telegram channel.

Klyuchevskoy, standing at 4,754 meters above sea level and situated around 30 km from the village of Klyuchi, is one of Eurasia's most active volcanoes. The eruption, which began on July 30, followed a strong earthquake in the region the day before, reports news agency.

Ash plumes soared up to 12 km into the sky, with ashfall affecting communities across the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal district.

Europe's wildfire season has scorched 439,568 hectares so far this year, more than double the 19-year average for this point in the season, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) said.

The tally covers fires larger than 30 hectares detected by the EU's Copernicus Emergency Management Service, News Agency reported.

Since January 1, authorities have registered 1,628 such fires, up from 1,089 in the same period last year, with associated carbon emissions estimated at 14.11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the JRC said in its latest weekly update.

North Korea on Thursday denounced the United States for its recent back-to-back military exercises in the West Pacific, conducted jointly with other countries, including Australia and Japan, calling them "highly provocative."

"If the US and its followers obsessively pursue military actions that undermine peace and security in the Asia Pacific region, they will inevitably provoke protest and retaliation from countries in the region," reports.

The KCNA took issue with two recent US-led multinational military exercises: Talisman Sabre, conducted last month in northeastern Australia with 18 other nations, and a military exercise in the Philippine Sea of the Western Pacific from August 4-12, involving Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway and Spain.

"Needless to say, they were highly sensational and provocative both in content and in elements," the KCNA noted.

Typhoon Podul, the 11th typhoon of the year, made landfall in eastern Taiwan's Taitung County at around 1.10 p.m. on Wednesday, bringing severe storms to Hualien and Taitung, according to the local meteorological agency.

The agency continued to issue both sea and land warnings for Podul on Wednesday. At noon, its central pressure was 945 hectopascals, with maximum sustained winds reaching 43 metres per second near the centre.

The land warning covers 13 counties and cities, including Hualien, Taitung and Miaoli, while the sea warning applies to the waters off eastern Taiwan, the Bashi Channel, the Taiwan Strait and waters near Dongsha Island.

Sydney Airport in Australia was partially locked down on Wednesday morning after a police officer's firearm was discharged in the course of an arrest.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed that officers arrested a man in the T2 domestic terminal at the airport on Wednesday morning after a police firearm was discharged.

An AFP statement said that an investigation into the incident has commenced and that there is no ongoing threat to the public.

The man was being detained by AFP officers in a struggle when the gun was fired, reports news agency, quoting the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Sydney Airport said in a statement that there were no reported injuries and that it was assisting the AFP. "The airport is operating normally," it said.

Greece is battling dozens of wildfires across the country, forcing mass evacuations and damaging homes, farmland, and industrial facilities as extreme winds and heat hamper firefighting efforts.

82 wildfires in the past 24 hours, with 23 still active by nightfall Tuesday. Gale-force winds of up to nine on the Beaufort scale fanned the flames, prompting the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection to mobilise firefighters, forest rangers, aircraft, and volunteers nationwide, reports.

In the western region of Achaia, a major blaze near the industrial zone of Patras triggered repeated emergency alerts and the evacuation of more than 20 settlements.

The latest attacks in the El Fasher area of Sudan's North Darfur State and violence in the Kordofan region alarmed the United Nations, a UN spokesman said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a large-scale attack in the El Fasher area affected the Abu Shouk displacement camp.

"The attack has been attributed by local sources to fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)," Dujarric said on Tuesday.

"At least 40 civilians have been killed within Abu Shouk, and another 19 injured."

He said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that exit routes from the city were blocked, trapping civilians under siege and cutting them off from safety and aid. At least 500 people have fled from Abu Shouk to other locations in North Darfur.

Leaders across India's political spectrum on Thursday strongly reacted to US President Donald Trump's announcement of imposing a punitive 25 per cent tariff on India for continuing to buy oil from Russia -- a move that would raise total tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent.

In a sharp rebuke, Indian leaders questioned Washington's authority to "punish" sovereign countries for pursuing independent foreign policy and warned that retaliatory measures would be considered if the tariffs were not rolled back.

Trump was singling out India, even though countries like China and Turkey continue to import oil from Russia.

Rescuers have brought out nine people from debris, with two of them confirmed dead, after a rain-triggered landslide trapped 14 people in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on Wednesday morning, local authorities said on Thursday.

The search for the other five missing is continuing.

Rescue workers are racing to contain flooding, search for trapped residents and clear blocked roads after days of torrential rain triggered landslides and traffic disruptions across the province.

Moscow on Wednesday said that it is not surprised by the record-long absence of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump, given the "unprecedented deterioration" of Russia-US relations during the tenure of former US President Joe Biden.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remarks on an assessment, which noted that for the first time in the modern history of Russia, the US-Russian summit had not been held even after more than six months since the inauguration of the new US President.

US President Donald Trump has said that he was waiting to see what happens at the meeting between Russia’s leaders and his special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday before deciding on the punitive tariffs on those buying oil from Russia.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, he said, “We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We're going to see what happens, we'll make that determination, at that time”.

On Tuesday morning, Trump warned that he would impose heavy tariffs on India within the next 24 hours, but his afternoon statement, while talking to reporters, appeared to indicate that he may hold off on the threat if there was movement on the talks to end the Ukraine War.

Reminded by a reporter of his threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, the US president denied it.

“I never said a percentage, but we'll be doing quite a bit of that”, he said.

Klyuchevskoy volcano in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula ejected an ash plume reaching 7 kilometres above sea level on Tuesday, with the cloud drifting southeast toward the Pacific Ocean, local authorities reported.

"There are no settlements in the path of the ash cloud, and no ash fallout has been recorded in populated areas. No registered tourist groups are currently in the vicinity of the volcano," the Kamchatka branch of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said on its Telegram channel.

The volcano has been assigned an orange aviation colour code, indicating a high likelihood of ash emissions and potential hazards to aviation.

The eruption activity intensified on Monday, when the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences recorded four separate ash plumes from Klyuchevskoy, with the highest reaching 9 kilometres above sea level, reports news agency.

Many households in Brunei continue to express concerns about the prices of groceries, even as overall inflation has moderated or turned negative, according to the local daily Borneo Bulletin on Tuesday.

Recent data comparing average prices in June 2025 to levels in 2019 shows that food prices have risen significantly across a range of essential items, with notable increases including frozen minced beef, fresh lamb, chillies, tomatoes, and cooking oils, the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (DEPS) was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The DEPS, under Brunei's Ministry of Finance and Economy, said in a statement that the price hikes reflect both global factors, such as supply chain disruptions, climate-related impacts, and geopolitical tensions, and local market conditions, including production costs and a smaller scale of production, reports news agency.

The Hong Kong Observatory on Tuesday morning issued the black rainstorm warning signal, the fourth time within eight days.

This is the highest level in the observatory's three-tier heavy rain alert system. This indicates that heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 mm in an hour, and is likely to continue.

Due to seriously flooded roads and inclement weather conditions, people are advised to take shelter in a safe place. An emergency coordination centre of the Home Affairs Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government is in operation. The department has opened temporary shelters for needy people.

Fueled by gusty winds and bone-dry timber, Arizona's Dragon Bravo Fire sweeping across the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park had grown to roughly 472 square km, according to the US interagency website on wildfire.

The blaze, ignited by a July 4 lightning strike on the Walhalla Plateau inside the park, is only 12 per cent contained as of Sunday despite the round-the-clock efforts of 1,214 firefighters supported by helicopters and large air tankers.

Over 900 people, 54 trail mules, and staff have been evacuated safely. Firefighters have been using graded forest roads, canyon walls and remnants of previous burns to contain the wildfire since mid-July, news agency reported.

Continuous heavy rainfall over the past week has severely impacted several areas in central and southern Taiwan, leaving four dead, 74 injured, and three missing, according to the island's fire department.

On Sunday, a total of 108 monitoring stations across Taiwan recorded a daily precipitation of over 200 millimetres. A site in Kaohsiung reported a weekly cumulative rainfall of 2,759 millimetres, surpassing the island's annual average volume of 2,500 millimetres.

The island's emergency operations center said on Sunday that 5,795 people have been evacuated so far, and a total of 140 instances of road and tunnel closures and 124 cases of falling rocks have been reported. Power outages have affected hundreds of households, while multiple regions have issued red alerts for landslides.

Torrential monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across Pakistan, claiming at least 299 lives, including 140 children, and leaving 715 others injured since June 26, according to the latest data released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Additionally, 715 others, among them 239 children, 204 women and 272 men, were injured in rain-triggered incidents, local media reported on Monday.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,676 houses were damaged and 428 livestock were lost in the flash floods and heavy rains, which have caused widespread destruction across several regions, dealing a heavy blow to the local communities.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted a wet spell for the country's upper and central regions, with weak monsoon currents expected to intensify on Monday and a strong westerly wave on Tuesday, reported.

US President Donald Trump confirmed that his special envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Russia next week, amid heightened tensions over the US sanctions deadline.

Addressing reporters in New Jersey on Sunday, the US President said, "But Steve is focused right now on the border, in terms of we're talking about with Gaza getting people fed, and he may be going, I think next week, Wednesday or Thursday, maybe going to Russia. They would like to see him. They've asked that he meet. So, we'll see what happens."

Trump also confirmed that Russia could face sanctions by August 9 if an agreement is not reached on resolving the Ukraine crisis.

"But they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions," he added.

The Hong Kong Observatory on Saturday issued the black rainstorm warning signal, the second time this week.

This means that heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 millimetres in an hour, and is likely to continue.

An emergency coordination centre of the Home Affairs Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government is in operation. The department has opened temporary shelters for needy people.

Due to the rainstorm, some public services and activities in HKSAR have been suspended, news agency reported.

Public general outpatient clinics, specialist outpatient clinics are closed. Classes in all schools are suspended this afternoon. Hong Kong Wetland Park is closed. People are urged to avoid visiting country parks.

Earlier on July 29, the Hong Kong Observatory had issued its first black rainstorm warning signal of the year.

US President Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to "appropriate" points to confront Russia as the war of words between him and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues to escalate, spilling over from the digital domain to the real world.

Reacting to Mededev's post on Telegram, Trump said on Truth Social, "Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that."

He added, "Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances."

Trump did not say which submarines were being deployed or where.

North Korea on Friday slammed the United States and Japan for turning their alliance into a threatening "nuclear" coalition, claiming the move justifies its own defence buildup.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism in an article by a North Korean international affairs analyst, citing last year's upgrade of US-Japan consultations on extended deterrence to the ministerial level and the two countries' recent reaffirmation of extended deterrence guidelines.

Extended deterrence refers to the US' stated commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear arms, to defend its ally, news agency reported.

North Korea also cited Japanese authorities' recent tour to a base for US B-52 strategic bombers and the staging of a joint military drill simulating nuclear use.