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Meta India head named in case over Facebook videos targeting PM Modi

Police in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad have registered a case against the head of Meta India over multiple videos posted on the company’s Facebook platform that depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an “abusive manner”, a senior police officer said on Friday. Police are preparing to send a notice to Meta Platforms regarding the case, which had not been issued as of Friday, said V Aravind Babu, deputy commissioner of police for cyber crimes in Hyderabad. Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters ’ requests for comment on Friday. The case adds to a string of tensions between Meta and Modi’s government over content tied to the prime minister. India’s IT ministry summoned Meta executives this week after Facebook briefly restricted a Modi post last week, with a top official saying the government wanted Meta to explain the matter at the highest level. A Meta spokesperson said at the time that the post, which was Modi’s first where he addressed massive student protests tha...

Sleepless night near border of Spain's Ceuta as migrants torch vehicles

Thousands of migrants streamed into the Moroccan town of Fnideq near the border with Ceuta overnight, despite a reinforced deployment of security that foiled most attempts to cross into the Spanish enclave. Spanish state television TVE said between 2,000 and 3,000 people crossed into Ceuta on Thursday. Most of those who succeeded in crossing appeared to have done so before midday, according to residents of Fnideq. Ceuta, along with Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, represents the European Union’s only land border with Africa. Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe. Spain sent military and police reinforcements to Ceuta after the surge, while authorities in the enclave said nine bodies had been retrieved. Vehicles burn in Fnideq, Morocco, July 31, 2026, as migrants (not pictured) wait for a chance to cross to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. — Reuters Although the bo...

Bullet-riddled bodies of 6 kidnapped labourers found in Balochistan's Turbat

QUETTA: The bodies of six of seven labourers who were kidnapped earlier this week in the Turbat city of Balochistan’s Kech district were found with bullet wounds on Thursday, an official told Dawn. On Tuesday, unidentified armed men had blocked Turbat-Mand Road in the Kalatak area of Kech district and taken away the seven labourers, who were travelling in a vehicle. The kidnappers had killed one of the labourers the same day and dumped his body on a highway. On Thursday, the bodies of the remaining six labourers were also found, Balochistan Home Department spokesperson Babar Yousafzai told Dawn . He said the kidnappers had taken the labourers to an undisclosed location, where one of them was killed shortly after the abduction and his body was dumped on the highway. They later also killed the six remaining labourers, whose bodies were found in Turbat’s Nasirabad area, he added. Yousafzai said the bodies bore torture marks and bullet wounds, and it seemed that the labourers had be...

New Zealand FM in row with Beijing's envoy after telling Chinese-born lawmaker to 'go back to your own country'

New Zealand’s top diplomat Winston Peters drew the ire of Beijing’s ambassador in Wellington on Thursday after telling a lawmaker of Chinese descent to “go back to your own country”. During a debate about New Zealand’s response to the Covid pandemic on Wednesday, populist NZ First leader Peters was asked by China-born Green Party member Lawrence Xu-Nan: “Are you vaccinated?” In response, Peters said the lawmaker, who was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin but grew up in Auckland, had “come here five minutes ago”. “Go back to your own country. That’s where they lie like a flatfish, but they don’t lie like that here,” Peters said. “This is called a democracy, unlike what you’re used to. Go back to where you’ve come from, you loudmouth.” The comments sparked a rare intervention from Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong. Wang said on X on Thursday that while he preferred to stay out of domestic politics, “suffice it to say, sometimes, a statement says more about the perso...

Pakistan says 'doing utmost' to bring US, Iran back to Islamabad MoU

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that Pakistan was doing its “utmost” to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last month. Addressing a weekly press briefing, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan noted with concern that the security situation in the Middle East “remains precarious despite the relative calm of the past few days, which had rekindled hopes that this positive development, this calm, would consolidate into a durable and fully respected ceasefire and pave the way for dialogue”. Andrabi reiterated Pakistan’s support for dialogue and diplomacy, maintaining that it remained the “only viable path forward”. “We welcome all efforts aimed at sustaining cessation of hostilities and resumption of dialogue between Iran and the US,” he said, adding that Pakistan remained engaged and will continue to do so. “Let me add that the negotiations between parties are ongoing to normalise t...

Kuwait FM in Islamabad on official visit

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday welcomed Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who is on an official visit to the country, at the Foreign Office (FO). State-run Pakistan TV shared a picture of the two shaking hands on the social media platform X. The visiting dignitary arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday at the invitation of Deputy PM Dar. The FO said that upon arrival at the Islamabad International Airport, he was received by Zahid Hussain, additional secretary at the foreign ministry. “During the visit, the two sides will hold talks covering the full spectrum of bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest,” it said. It added that the minister’s visit to Pakistan reflected the longstanding brotherly relations between the two countries, “anchored in shared history, mutual trust and close cooperation”....