Moscow: Russia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday called for an immediate cessation of the Israel and Iran conflict and an intensification of political and diplomatic efforts to resolve Tehran’s nuclear issue.

According to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue during a telephonic conversation with his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“The imperative of an early cessation of hostilities and intensification of political and diplomatic efforts in the interests of resolving controversial issues related to the Iranian nuclear programme was emphasised,” the Kremlin said in a statement after the talks.

During the call, Putin also highlighted Russia’s readiness to provide mediation assistance in promoting dialogue between Israel and Iran, and briefed his UAE counterpart on his contacts with a number of foreign leaders about this.

As Israel and Iran continued to strike each other for the sixth day, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the nuclear threat is no longer hypothetical but real in West Asia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel is pursuing two goals — to foil Iran’s nuclear ambitions and to neutralise its missile production and attack capabilities.

“All this leads not just to escalation, but to a direct threat to the region and the world because attacks are being carried out on peaceful atomic or nuclear facilities,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a radio interview.

She underscored that the nuclear threat has a practical dimension, not a hypothetical one and upheld Tehran’s right to have peaceful nuclear facilities that were now under attack.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion last week, targeting Iran’s nuclear, missile and military infrastructure. Iran later launched retaliatory strikes on Israel.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Brig Gen Effie Defrin, at a press conference, said the Israeli Air Force has hit over 1,100 Iranian assets in hundreds of strikes in Iran since Friday.

Iran launched some 30 ballistic missiles at Israel in two barrages overnight, the IDF spokesperson confirmed, claiming that most of the projectiles were intercepted and there were no injuries.

Washington: The US State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review.

The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the US, its government, culture, institutions or founding principles.

In a notice made public Wednesday, the department said it had rescinded its May suspension of student visa processing but said new applicants who refuse to set their social media accounts to “public” and allow them to be reviewed may be rejected. It said a refusal to do so could be a sign they are trying to evade the requirement or hide their online activity.

“Under new guidance, consular officers will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting of all student and exchange visitor applicants,” the department said in a statement.

“To facilitate this vetting” applicants “will be asked to adjust the privacy settings on all their social media profiles to public,’” it said. “The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our country.”

In internal guidance sent to consular officers, the department said they should be looking for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States.”

Vatican City: Cardinal Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV.

Jerusalem: Israel permanently closed six U.N. schools in east Jerusalem on Thursday, forcing Palestinian students to leave early and throwing the education of more than 800 others into question.

Last month, heavily armed Israeli police and Education Ministry officials ordered six schools in east Jerusalem to close within 30 days, which ended on Wednesday. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, runs the six schools. UNRWA also runs schools in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which continue to operate.

The closure orders come after Israel banned UNRWA from operating on its soil earlier this year, the culmination of a long campaign against the agency that intensified following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. Israel claims that UNRWA schools teach antisemitic content and anti-Israel sentiment, which UNRWA denies.

UNRWA is the main provider of education and health care to Palestinian refugees across east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its unified capital.

The Israeli Ministry of Education says it will place the students into other Jerusalem schools. But parents, teachers and administrators caution that closing the main schools in east Jerusalem will force their children to go through crowded and dangerous checkpoints daily, and some do not have the correct permits to pass through.

In a previous statement to The Associated Press, the Ministry of Education said it was closing the schools because they were operating without a license. UNRWA administrators pledged to keep the schools open for as long as possible.

Canada’s new Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Mark Carney

Toronto: Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won Canada’s federal election on Monday, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fuelled by US President Donald Trump’s annexation threats and trade war.

After polls closed, the Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservative Party, though it wasn’t immediately clear if they would win an outright majority or would need to rely on one or more smaller parties to form a government and pass legislation.

The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.

“We were dead and buried in December. Now we are going to form a government,” David Lametti, a former Liberal Justice Minister, told broadcaster CTV.

“We have turned this around thanks to Mark,” he said.

The Conservative Party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre, hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose.

But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became the Liberal Party’s leader and prime minister.

Even with Canadians grappling with the fallout from a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street festival, Trump was trolling them on election day, suggesting on social media that he was on their ballot and repeating that Canada should become the 51st state. He also erroneously claimed that the US subsidizes Canada, writing, “It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”

Trump’s truculence has infuriated many Canadians, leading many to cancel U.S. vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early. A record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day.

“The Americans want to break us so they can own us,” Carney said in the runup to election day. “Those aren’t just words. That’s what’s at risk.”

As he and his wife cast their ballots in their Ottawa district on Monday, Poilievre implored voters to “Get out to vote — for a change.” After running a Trump-like campaign for months, though, his similarities to the bombastic American leader might have cost him.

Reid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre “sounds like mini-Trump to me.” And he said Trump’s tariffs are a worry.

“Canadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from the States is great, but it’s definitely created some turmoil, that’s for sure,” he said.

Historian Robert Bothwell said Poilievre appealed to the “same sense of grievance” as Trump, but that it ultimately cost him with voters.

“The Liberals ought to pay him,” Bothwell added, referring to the US president. “Trump talking is not good for the Conservatives.”

Carney and the Liberals cleared a big hurdle by winning a fourth-straight term, but they have daunting challenges ahead.

Foreign policy hadn’t dominated a Canadian election as much as it did this year’s since 1988, when, ironically, free trade with the United States was the prevailing issue.

In addition to the trade war with the US and frosty relationship with Trump, Canada is dealing with a cost-of-living crisis. And more than 75% of its exports go to the US, so Trump’s tariffs threat and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada’s production south could severely damage the Canadian economy.

While campaigning, Carney vowed that every dollar the the government collects from counter-tariffs on US goods will go toward Canadian workers who are adversely affected by the trade war. He also said he plans to keep dental care in place, offer a middle-class tax cut, return immigration to sustainable levels and increase funding to Canada’s public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Riyadh: A viral video is circulating on social media shows a solar halo over Saudi Arabia, with the person filming claiming it to be a sign of the approaching ‘doomsday’

In the purported video the person filming the clip is seen claiming that this solar display looks like it’s the arrival of doomsday, its nearing, everyone offer prayers as doomsday is nearing, he is heard saying in Malayalam.

However the viral claim is fake, as the solar display is a rare solar halo.

However, fact-checking reveals that the claim is false. The phenomenon is actually a rare and natural atmospheric event known as a solar halo.

On Thursday morning, residents of Aseer in Saudi Arabia were treated to a breathtaking celestial display as a rare solar halo formed a perfect, translucent ring around the sun, drawing widespread attention, reported Arab News.

Quoting Dr. Abdullah Al-Musa, a researcher and agricultural calendar specialist in the Asir region, Arab News report stated that this optical phenomenon occurs when ice crystals in high-altitude clouds align at a 22-degree angle, creating a striking ring of light around the sun. The effect, sometimes accompanied by rainbow-like colors due to light dispersion, is a result of sunlight interacting with tiny ice crystals in cirrostratus clouds, as reported by Arab News.

In the meantime, Dubai-based English daily Khaleej Times reported a similar phenomenon in the UAE, where on Saturday afternoon, a luminous 22-degree halo encircled the sun.

Ibrahim Al Jarwan, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Emirates Astronomical Society, speaking to Khaleej Times explained that this optical phenomenon occurs when sunlight refracts through ice crystals in thin, high-altitude clouds like cirrus clouds.

The sun halos reportedly occur when sunlight passes through millions of tiny hexagonal ice crystals found in high cirrostratus clouds. The 22° angle refers to the angular radius of the ring around the sun, not the angle at which the light refracts.

Meanwhile the halo led many questions about its possible link to recent solar storms. However, Khadija Al Hariri, operations manager at the Dubai Astronomy Group, told the Khaleej Times that, “Sun halos are caused by ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere bending sunlight. Solar storms are caused by activity on the sun like solar flares and coronal mass ejections that send charged particles toward Earth, potentially affecting satellites, power grids, and creating auroras.”

She further explained, “This phenomenon is rare in the UAE because it’s usually too hot and dry for the high-altitude ice crystals needed to form a sun halo. It doesn’t have any direct impact on the sun or space activity, it’s purely a local atmospheric observation.”

Beijing: China has reportedly tested a new kind of explosive device that uses hydrogen but does not involve any nuclear materials. This new weapon was developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). It works differently from traditional hydrogen bombs, which rely on nuclear fusion. Instead, this device uses a chemical reaction with a substance called magnesium hydride. The explosion creates a powerful fireball that gives off extreme heat for a longer time, reported Economic Times.

The explosive weighs only 2 kilograms and uses a unique method to create a powerful blast. Magnesium hydride, which stores hydrogen at high densities, breaks down quickly when triggered by a normal explosive. This releases hydrogen gas, which then mixes with air and catches fire. The result is a fireball with temperatures above 1,000°C much hotter than regular explosives like TNT.

Quoting Wang Xuefeng, a top scientist at the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), The Economic Times reported that hydrogen explosions require very little energy to ignite and can spread rapidly. Wang explained that such fires possess the intensity to burn through strong materials, including aluminium alloys. Due to its precision and destructive power, the device could be highly effective in targeted military strikes.

During a field test, the explosive showed a peak pressure of 428.43 kilopascals at a distance of two meters. This is around 40% of the pressure made by TNT. But the real strength of this device lies in the heat it produces. While most explosives create a quick shockwave, this one keeps burning at very high temperatures for more than two seconds.

This long-lasting heat could make the explosive useful for hitting specific military targets, such as power plants or communication centers. It could also be used to block enemy forces by burning roads or transport routes, making them unusable.