MEXICO CITY: A bus accident in eastern Mexico has left at least 10 people dead, and another 32 injured, authorities in the state of Veracruz said Thursday. The crash occurred on Christmas Eve in the town of Zontecomatlan while the vehicle was traveling from Mexico City to the village of Chicontepec. &quot;At this stage, we have confirmed nine adults and one child dead,&quot; the Zontecomatlan mayor&#39;s office said in a statement. The municipality also released a list of 32 people injured and the hospitals to which they were admitted. Fatal road accidents, often involving buses or trucks, are common in Mexico. They are often caused by speeding or mechanical failure. In late November, 10 people were killed and 20 others injured in a similar accident in the western state of Michoacan.

Americas

Fatal road accidents, involving buses or trucks, are common in Mexico, often caused by speeding or mechanical failure.

10 dead, 32 injured in Mexico bus crash

BEIJING: China&rsquo;s sprawling high-speed rail network passed 50,000 kilometres (31,000 miles) in total operating distance with the opening of a new line on Friday, state media reported. The country has the world&rsquo;s largest rail network &mdash; one-fifth longer than the circumference of the Earth. The trip begins in the city of Xi&rsquo;an &mdash; home to China&rsquo;s famed Terracotta Warriors &mdash; and ends in Yan&rsquo;an to its north, state broadcaster CCTV said. Both cities are in northern China&rsquo;s Shaanxi province. Some homes were demolished, and displaced residents would receive 5,000 yuan ($700) per household to relocate, local authorities said in 2020 when construction began. China&rsquo;s rail network has expanded by around 32% compared to 2020, state-owned China Railway added Friday in a statement. The Xi&rsquo;an-Yan&rsquo;an line spans a total of 299 kilometres, and the shortest trip takes 68 minutes, CCTV said. The C9309 train runs at 350 kilometres (217 miles) per hour, outpacing Japan&rsquo;s Shinkansen, which has a top speed of 320 kilometres (200 miles) per hour. Beijing has also been financing railways in other Asian countries under its Belt and Road Initiative, which funds infrastructure projects globally, but a number of plans have been stalled or mired in controversy.

Asia

 China’s sprawling high-speed rail network passed 50,000 kilometres (31,000 miles) in total operating distance with the opening of a new line on Friday, state media reported.

China's high-speed rail network passes 50,000km mark

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: An Indian cabinet minister mocked a rape survivor, laughing at her for staging a protest in Delhi, Indian media reported on Thursday. Uttar Pradesh&#39;s cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar made fun of the Unnao rape survivor, laughing at her for protesting. The Unnao rape incident refers to the 2017 kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old minor in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, by then-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his associates. The case gained national attention due to allegations of a high-level cover-up, the custodial death of the victim&#39;s father, and a suspicious road accident involving the survivor. On Tuesday, the survivor and her family had demonstrated at India Gate, following the Delhi High Court&rsquo;s suspension of Sengar&rsquo;s life sentence pending an appeal. Minister Rajbhar, who leads the BJP ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) in Uttar Pradesh, made the remarks while heading to the state Assembly session in the morning, according to the Indian media report. &#39;India Gate? Ghar to unka Unnao hai&#39;When media personnel asked him about police handling of the survivor during the protest, after a video emerged showing her being dragged away, he laughed and said, &ldquo;India Gate? Ghar to unka Unnao hai (Why India Gate? She is from Unnao).&rdquo;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 746px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2003797046835458479&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=f241346f7aaf5ff0763b91a298b4b4f49eb78c59&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" data-tweet-id="2003797046835458479"></iframe></div></div>He added, &ldquo;The court has issued directions that Sengar would stay away from the family, maintaining a 5-km distance. Why a dharna (protest sit-in) in Delhi when the court has given directions ensuring security? Where is the question of lack of security?&rdquo; His son and SBSP national general secretary Arun Rajbhar said, &ldquo;So, Om Prakash Rajbhar should cry over this, then it would be fine. Investigation has already been done in the case. The court has given directions on security for the family. There is nothing left to say.&rdquo; The state government had allegedly withdrawn security for the survivor and her family, stating it was unnecessary as Sengar was convicted and in jail. Sengar was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 by a Delhi trial court after being found guilty of raping a minor under Section 376 (2) of the IPC and Sections 5(c) &amp; 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.&nbsp; The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.&nbsp; He remains in prison and will not be released unless a similar order suspending his sentence in the custodial killing case of the minor&rsquo;s father is issued by the Delhi High Court, the Indian media report stated.

India

The woman and her family had protested at India Gate, following the Delhi High Court’s suspension of accused former Bhartiya Janata Party MLA Kuldeep Sengar’s life sentence pending an appeal.

Indian state minister mocks Unnao rape survivor’s Delhi protest

ISLAMABAD: The United Christian Forum (UCF), in a letter to Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, said that it had documented an alarming increase in incidents targeting Christians across India as of November 2025. The UCF is an Indian civil society organization that works on issues related to the protection of Christians&rsquo; rights, documenting violence and discrimination against the community, and advocating for religious freedom and social justice in the South Asian country. According to an Indian media report, in the letter dated Dec. 23, the UCF said that 834 incidents of violence against Christians were recorded in 2024, averaging 69.5 incidents per month over the past 10 years. It said that allegations of fraudulent religious conversions were cited as the primary reason for many of these attacks. UCF identified Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh as the states reporting the highest number of incidents, with 157 and 184 cases, respectively, till November 2025. Burial-related disputes&nbsp;The letter highlighted burial-related disputes in tribal regions, stating that Christians were routinely denied burial space and, in some cases, forced to exhume the bodies of their dead. According to the forum, 23 burial-related incidents were recorded in 2025, including 19 in Chhattisgarh, two in Jharkhand, and one each in Odisha and West Bengal. It further stated that around 40 such incidents were recorded in 2024, with 30 reported from Chhattisgarh, six from Jharkhand, and others from Bihar and Karnataka. The letter cited specific incidents, including one on Dec. 15 in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, where a body buried according to Christian rites was allegedly sought to be exhumed by a mob. Disruption of prayer meetings&nbsp;It also referred to a burial being denied in Balod district in November 2025 and another incident in Odisha&rsquo;s Nabarangpur district in April 2025, where a body was exhumed and burnt after the family reportedly refused to renounce Christianity. UCF referred to a report by the People&rsquo;s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Karnataka, which documented alleged police collusion with Hindutva groups, disruption of Christian prayer meetings, and the filing of complaints under sections 295A and 298 of the Indian Penal Code. The letter also noted that freedom of religion laws, commonly referred to as anti-conversion laws, were in force in 12 Indian states and stated that, in practice, these laws target religious minorities. Increase in attack incidents&nbsp;<img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/34f0dcf2-5566-432c-8f1d-2e0a0f5f6da6.png" style="width: 482px;" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-fir">The forum cited an Article 14 analysis of police reports registered under conversion laws in Uttar Pradesh, stating that many were based on third-party complaints. It also referred to recent incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh involving arrests, demolitions, and cases registered during prayer gatherings and Christmas celebrations. According to other Indian media reports, the UCF has earlier pointed to a steep rise in cases of attacks against Christians in India over the past decade, with annual incidents increasing from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024. According to UCF data, violence has increased significantly since 2014 (graph).

India's United Christian Forum has highlighted a steep rise in cases of attacks against Christians in India over the past decade, with annual incidents increasing from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024.

Advocacy group decries sevenfold increase in attacks on India's Christians in letter to home minister

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered officials to step up production of missiles and construct more factories to meet his military&#39;s growing need for the projectiles, state media said Friday. Pyongyang has significantly increased missile testing in recent years &mdash; aimed, analysts say, at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the United States as well as South Korea, and testing weapons before exporting them to key ally Russia. In a visit to munitions factories accompanied by top officials, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim had ordered the factories to prepare for a busy year ahead. The North Korean leader said they needed &quot;to further expand the overall production capacity&quot; to keep pace with demand from Pyongyang&#39;s armed forces and ordered the building of new munitions plants, KCNA reported. &quot;The missile and shell production sector is of paramount importance in bolstering up the war deterrent,&quot; Kim said. North Korea and Russia have drawn closer since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago, and Pyongyang has sent troops to fight for Russia, along with artillery shells, missiles, and long-range rocket systems. In return, Russia is sending North Korea financial aid, military technology, and food and energy supplies, analysts say. Washington has also pointed to evidence that Russia is stepping up support for North Korea, including providing help on advanced space and satellite technology, in return for its assistance in fighting Ukraine. Analysts say satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) share much of the same underlying technology. &quot;With its ICBM program already at a stage widely seen as having achieved core objectives, Pyongyang is likely to further accelerate development next year,&quot; said Ahn Chan-il, a researcher originally from North Korea. The country is likely to shift &quot;focus toward testing and producing systems linked to potential exports to Russia &mdash; including medium- and intermediate-range missiles,&quot; he added. Nuclear-powered sub&nbsp;Kim&#39;s visit was reported a day after state media said he had toured a nuclear submarine factory and vowed to counter the &quot;threat&quot; of South Korea producing its own such vessels with Washington&#39;s backing. The North Korean leader also learned about research into &quot;new underwater secret weapons,&quot; KCNA said. North Korea is expected to &quot;seek advanced military technologies from Russia, including nuclear-powered submarine capabilities and fighter jets, as it looks to address its air force&#39;s relative weakness,&quot; analyst Ahn told AFP. Kim was reported on Thursday to have overseen the test launch of new-type high-altitude long-range anti-air missiles over the Sea of Japan. And he said that &quot;new modernization and production plans&quot; would be unveiled at his ruling Korean Workers Party&#39;s first congress in half a decade, expected in early 2026.

Europe

North Korean leader says needed 'to further expand the overall production capacity' to keep pace with demand from Pyongyang's armed forces, orders building of new munitions plants; country expected to 'seek advanced military technologies from Russia, including nuclear-powered submarine capabilities and fighter jets.'

North Korea's Kim orders factories to make more missiles in 2026

NAROK: Maasai women erupted with mocking heckles as a community elder, wrapped in a traditional red blanket, claimed that female genital mutilation had all but stopped in their community in southern Kenya. The women know that mutilating young girls by removing their clitoris and inner labia &mdash; framed as a rite of passage &mdash; is still an entrenched practice in some remote villages of Narok county, around three hours from the nearest tarmac road. One local nurse told AFP some 80% of girls in the area are still affected, despite the practice being made illegal in 2011. &quot;Why are you telling people that you have stopped, when we have teenage girls coming to the hospital who have been cut?&quot; asked a woman in the crowd, gathered in Entasekera village to discuss the issue. The women nodded emphatically, while the men sat stone-faced. Female genital mutilation (FGM) has survived decades of pressure to end it, from British colonialists and later Kenyan and global NGOs. It still exists not only among the rural southern Maasai, but also in Kenya&#39;s northeast &mdash; with parts of the Somali diaspora community in the region reporting rates over 90% &mdash; as well as in some urban areas and among educated groups, where campaigners have highlighted the rise of so-called medicalized FGM. A 2022 government survey said the number of affected teenage girls had fallen from 29% to 9% since 1998. But that does not reflect reality in some areas. &quot;We don&#39;t circumcise girls because the culture has changed,&quot; Maasai elder Moses Letuati, 50, told AFP &mdash; before admitting one of his four daughters was cut. Many of the Maasai men at the meeting also said it should end. Cries and curses&quot;I was screaming and struggling,&quot; said Martha, 18, who was 10 when two women, under pressure from their community, cut her at home in Narok East on her father&#39;s say-so. She later fled to a local shelter run by activist Patrick Ngigi, who says his organization Mission with a Vision has rescued some 3,000 victims of FGM since 1997. The shelter, supported by the United Nations Population Fund, has CCTV and panic buttons to protect the girls from fathers and elders who disagree with its mission. &quot;It&#39;s a dangerous job ... You make so many enemies, but slowly with time, you get used to it,&quot; said Ngigi, who has faced curses by community elders. The work is endless: at the village meeting, Ngigi was quietly approached by women pleading with him to take six more girls at risk of FGM. The practice persists among the community thanks to beliefs that a girl should be cut ahead of marriage, and if she does not undergo it, she will face ostracism. As a result, Ngigi said change requires education, dialogue, and an end to corruption. &quot;When a policeman comes and finds you doing it, you just give him something and you continue,&quot; he said. Police officer Raphael Maroa rejected the accusation of corruption but admitted FGM was entrenched, with many girls now spirited over the nearby Tanzanian border for the procedure. He criticized the community&#39;s lack of education &mdash; roughly half of Narok&#39;s population is illiterate, according to 2022 figures &mdash; but then admitted to AFP that his two daughters had also been cut, to avoid &quot;conflict with my parents.&quot; &#39;A monster&#39;&nbsp;The Maasai remain among Kenya&#39;s poorest communities and have faced decades of land loss due to colonial settlers and, more recently, tourism. Some remain suspicious of outsiders trying to change their way of life. One young Maasai man told AFP he had friends who still believed in FGM, but said girls were no longer cursed &mdash; a form of social control, used by elders &mdash; for refusing it. Cynthia Taruru would disagree. Her father cursed her when her college-educated sister rescued her from FGM at age 11. &quot;I could see myself dying, or not getting children, because I believed my father had just cursed me,&quot; said Taruru, now 23. &quot;I had to pay my father a cow to get the curse lifted,&quot; she said. Local health officials said victims of FGM often suffer fistulas and obstructed labor in childbirth, exacerbated by long distances to health facilities. Many young women, hoping to protect their families from arrest for allowing FGM, opt for home births, raising the risk of complications and death, although officials said data was lacking on exact numbers. Nurse Loise Nashipa, 32, at the Entasekera Health Centre, described FGM as &quot;a monster.&quot; &quot;There&#39;s bleeding, and there&#39;s pain, and infection,&quot; she said, saying most cutting was still done by elderly women in unsanitary conditions. Officially, FGM rates have fallen, said Rhoda Orido, head nurse at Narok County Hospital, &quot;but I think it&#39;s because some deliver at home.&quot; &#39;He&#39;ll forgive me&#39;As night fell at Ngigi&#39;s shelter, the girls celebrated the graduation of Cecilia Nairuko, 24, who ran away from FGM and forced marriage at the age of 15 and has qualified as a psychologist. Beaming, she danced around the facility in a graduation gown that had passed from one girl to the next. But her mood darkened when asked about her family: her father and three of her four brothers have not forgiven her. She knows there is one path back to her family: &quot;If I can earn enough money, he&#39;ll forgive me.&quot;

Africa

The women know that mutilating young girls by removing their clitoris and inner labia is still an entrenched practice in some remote villages of Narok county, around three hours from the nearest tarmac road.

Kenyan girls still afflicted by genital mutilation years after ban

PALM BEACH: President Donald Trump said US forces conducted &quot;powerful and deadly&quot; strikes Thursday against Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria, weeks after he warned against any systemic assault on Christians in the country. The Nigerian foreign ministry early Friday confirmed the air strikes, describing them as &quot;precision hits on terrorist targets&quot; in the country. The Department of Defense&#39;s US Africa Command said &quot;multiple ISIS terrorists&quot; were killed in an attack in Sokoto state conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities, but few details were provided, and it was not clear how many people died. The strikes hit IS targets on Christmas Day, according to Trump. &quot;I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,&quot; he said in a post on his Truth Social platform. &quot;May God bless our Military,&quot; he said, adding provocatively, &quot;MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.&quot; The attacks mark the first by US forces in Nigeria under Trump, and come after the Republican leader unexpectedly berated the West African nation in October and November, saying Christians there faced an &quot;existential threat&quot; that amounted to &quot;genocide&quot; amid Nigeria&#39;s myriad armed conflicts. That diplomatic offensive was welcomed by some but interpreted by others as inflaming religious tensions in Africa&#39;s most populous country, which has seen bouts of sectarian violence in the past. Nigeria&#39;s government and independent analysts reject framing the country&#39;s violence in terms of religious persecution &mdash; a narrative long used by the Christian right in the United States and Europe. But Trump, spotlighting what his administration says is global persecution of Christians, stressed last month that Washington was ready to take military action in Nigeria &mdash; with &quot;guns-a-blazing&quot; &mdash; to counter such killings. &#39;Grateful&#39; for cooperation&nbsp;The Nigerian foreign ministry said the country was engaged with international partners against terrorism. &quot;Nigerian authorities remain engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism,&quot; the ministry said in a statement on Friday. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth took to X to say he was &quot;grateful for Nigerian government support &amp; cooperation.&quot; The United States this year placed Nigeria back on the list of countries of &quot;particular concern&quot; regarding religious freedom, and has restricted the issuance of visas to Nigerians. Trump last month also threatened to stop all aid to Abuja if it &quot;continues to allow the killing of Christians.&quot; Nigeria is almost evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a largely Christian south. Its northeast has been in the grip of violence for more than 15 years by the Boko Haram group, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced two million people. At the same time, large parts of the country&#39;s northwest, north, and center have been hit by criminal gangs known as &quot;bandits&quot; who attack villages, killing and kidnapping residents. On Wednesday, an explosion ripped through a mosque in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing at least seven worshippers. No armed groups immediately claimed responsibility.

Nigerian foreign ministry says country engaged with international partners against terrorism; US president vows more attacks if fighters keep killing Christians, adds he previously warned there would be hell to pay, “and tonight, there was." 

US launches Christmas Day strikes on IS targets in Nigeria

WASHINGTON: A lucky lottery player in the US state of Arkansas has won the $1.8 billion Powerball prize, the second-largest US lottery jackpot ever won, the gambling game&#39;s organizer said on Thursday. &quot;With final ticket sales, the Powerball jackpot reached $1.817 billion, making it the second-largest US lottery jackpot ever won and the largest Powerball prize this year,&quot; Powerball said in a statement. The draw was held on Christmas Eve. The winner can claim the full amount in 30 annual payments or opt for a one-off cash payout of $834.9 million before tax. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball. The largest lottery bonanza in history was $2.04 billion, awarded in 2022 to a person who bought their ticket in California.

The winner can claim the full amount in 30 annual payments or opt for a one-off cash payout of $834.9 million before tax; odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

US lottery player wins $1.8B Powerball on Christmas Eve

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities on Thursday said forces killed a senior leader in the Islamic State group and arrested another operative in fresh operations near capital Damascus in coordination with the US-led coalition. Syrian security and intelligence forces, working in coordination with the international coalition, conducted what the interior ministry described as a &quot;precise security operation&quot; in the Damascus countryside. &quot;The operation resulted in neutralizing the terrorist Mohammad Shahada, known as &#39;Abu Omar Shaddad&#39;, who is considered one of the prominent IS leaders in Syria,&quot; it added. &quot;This operation comes as confirmation of the effectiveness of joint coordination between the national security agencies and international partners.&quot; Later Thursday, the interior ministry said security forces &quot;in joint coordination with international coalition forces&quot; arrested &quot;the leader of a terrorist cell affiliated with the Daesh (IS) organization&quot; elsewhere near Damascus, seizing weapons and ammunition. Late Wednesday, authorities said they captured Taha al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tabiya, an IS leader in the Damascus region, along with several of his men, also in a joint operation with the US-led coalition. The interior ministry also said on Thursday that security forces had arrested three members of an IS-affiliated cell in Aleppo province. A December 13 attack killed two US soldiers and an American civilian. Washington blamed the attack on a lone IS gunman in Syria&#39;s Palmyra. In retaliation, US forces conducted strikes targeting scores of IS targets in Syria. The strikes killed five members of the jihadist group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In November, during a visit by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Washington, Syria officially joined the US-led coalition against IS. Sharaa is an Islamist ruler and a former jihadist whose group fought IS at the height of his country&#39;s civil war.

Middle East

Syrian authorities said forces killed a senior leader in the Islamic State group and arrested another operative in fresh operations near capital Damascus in coordination with the US-led coalition

Syria claims killing senior IS leader, arresting operative near Damascus

ISLAMABAD: United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Friday for an official visit focused on bilateral relations and regional security, the Pakistan foreign office announced on Wednesday. The visit comes at the invitation of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.&nbsp; Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers and senior officials. Since its formation in December 1971, Pakistan-UAE relations have grown across political, economic, and social spheres, evolving into a &ldquo;trustworthy strategic partnership&rdquo; based on mutual trust, according to the UAE foreign office. The UAE and Pakistan share strong economic ties, with approximately 1.8 million Pakistani expatriates working in the UAE. These expatriates contributed $5.5 billion in remittances in the current fiscal year, significantly supporting Pakistan&rsquo;s macro-economy, according to the ministry. The UAE-Pakistan Assistance Program, launched in January 2011 at a total cost of $450 million, has funded the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by floods and natural disasters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Bajaur, and South Waziristan, creating jobs and improving livelihoods in these regions. The country has also reaffirmed its support to Pakistan in overcoming macroeconomic challenges, exemplified by its $2 billion financial deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan.&nbsp; Over the past two decades, the UAE public and private sectors have invested more than $10 billion in Pakistan, spanning communications, services, tourism, information technology, oil and gas, housing, banking, and real estate, according to the UAE ministry of foreign affairs. State-owned and private UAE companies have played an active role in Pakistan&rsquo;s economic landscape.&nbsp; The Abu Dhabi Group owns Al Falah Bank and invested in UBL Bank; Dubai Islamic Bank has branches in Pakistan; Mashreq Bank Pakistan is a fully digital, Shariah-compliant bank. Additionally, Emirati telecommunications firms acquired shares in Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited for over $2 billion. Currently, around 19 Emirati companies are operating in Pakistan, reflecting the depth of economic engagement between the two countries, according to the UAE foreign office. The Pakistan foreign office said earlier this week that Sheikh Mohamed&rsquo;s visit to Pakistan and the ensuing talks are expected to focus on enhancing cooperation in trade, investment, energy, development, and regional stability.

Foreign Affairs

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is set to arrive in Pakistan for talks on bilateral relations, trade, investment, energy, and regional security, highlighting a longstanding strategic partnership and deep economic ties between both countries.

10 dead, 32 injured in Mexico bus crash

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US lottery player wins $1.8B Powerball on Christmas Eve

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US launches Christmas Day strikes on IS targets in Nigeria

Kenyan girls still afflicted by genital mutilation years after ban

Latest News

China's high-speed rail network passes 50,000km mark

Indian state minister mocks Unnao rape survivor’s Delhi protest

Advocacy group decries sevenfold increase in attacks on India's Christians in letter to home minister

North Korea's Kim orders factories to make more missiles in 2026

10 dead, 32 injured in Mexico bus crash