Foreign
Iran vows response after explosions kill more than 100 at ceremony
At least 103 people have died and more than 170 others were injured in two explosions set off during commemorations of the fourth anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani, a former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds Force killed in January 2020 in an air strike by U.S. forces near Baghdad.
The casualty figures from the blasts on January 3, the deadliest attack in the country since the Islamic revolution in 1979, were reported by Iranian state television, which quoted Babak Yektaparast, a spokesman for the country’s emergency services.
The Mizan news agency, which is close to Iran’s judicial system, reported on January 3 that the blasts occurred in the city of Kerman, near Soleimani’s grave site. Soleimani was from the city.
The Fars news agency first reported that a “terrible explosion” was heard in one of the roads leading to Kerman’s Martyrs’ Gulzar, while the Mehr news agency reported that a “second explosion” also was heard.
Video from the area showed the blasts occurred about 15 minutes apart.
The Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, said the first explosion was 700 meters from a shrine for Soleimani. The second explosion was 1 kilometer away from the shrine and was outside the pilgrims’ path and inspection gates, it added.
One local official called the blasts, which come at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East over the ongoing war between Israel and Iran-supported Hamas, a “terroristic” attack, but gave no evidence to back up the claim. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said most of the victims died in the second explosion and that authorities would react “quickly and forcefully” to the bombings.
“Our police forces are vigilant and will bring those who committed this crime to justice,” he said on state television.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the blasts.
“Undoubtedly, the perpetrators…of this cowardly act will soon be identified and punished for their heinous act by the capable security and law enforcement forces,” said Raisi in a statement.
“The enemies of the nation should know that such actions can never disrupt the solid determination of the Iranian nation.”
Commemorations of Soleimani’s death have previously drawn large crowds.
During his funeral in 2020, a stampede broke out and at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured in a procession of thousands of Iranians.
Considered at the time one of the most powerful men in Iran and the architect of Tehran’s foreign policy in the region, Soleimani was killed in a drone strike while traveling in a two-car convoy near Baghdad’s international airport early on January 3, 2020.
The U.S. military said it carried out the “defensive” strike to prevent Soleimani from orchestrating further attacks against U.S. interests in the region.
The assassination of Soleimani was a significant blow to the clerical regime, which was already reeling from biting U.S. sanctions, a free-falling economy, and anti-government protests.
The Quds Force is the elite foreign arm of Iran’s IRGC and has been declared a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.
Source: IRGC
President Donald Trump has directed the United States military to resume nuclear weapons testing, ending a 33-year break.
The announcement came on Thursday on Truth Social, minutes before he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump posted. “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
The move appears aimed at both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia recently carried out a series of nuclear-related tests, though the Kremlin said none involved actual nuclear explosions. “Until now, we didn’t know that anyone was testing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Russia would only test in response to another country doing so.
No nuclear power other than North Korea has conducted explosive testing in over 25 years. The U.S. last tested in 1992, Russia in 1990, and China in 1996.
China’s Foreign Ministry urged Washington to honor its long-standing moratorium on nuclear testing and maintain “global strategic balance and stability.”
According to Reuters, it remains unclear whether Trump’s order refers to underground explosive tests or missile flight tests.
Speaking later aboard Air Force One, Trump said testing was necessary to keep pace with rival powers. “With others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also,” he said, adding that test sites would be announced later.
He dismissed concerns about rising nuclear risks, saying U.S. weapons were “well locked up,” and repeated his call for global denuclearization. “We are actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something,” he said.
The decision follows China’s rapid nuclear buildup, doubling its arsenal from 300 to about 600 warheads since 2020, and Russia’s recent tests of nuclear-capable weapons, including the Poseidon underwater drone and Burevestnik missile.
In the U.S., Trump’s announcement drew swift criticism. Representative Dina Titus of Nevada said she would introduce legislation to block the move. Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association called Trump’s decision “misinformed,” warning it could “trigger a chain reaction of nuclear testing by U.S. adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
According to Reuters, experts say resuming underground nuclear tests in Nevada would take at least three years to prepare.
(Reuters)
China will slap port fees on U.S.-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels on Tuesday as a countermeasure to U.S. port fees on China-linked ships starting the same day, China’s transport ministry said on Friday.
The move came shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump said there is no reason to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping in two weeks in South Korea as planned, adding on social media that the U.S. is calculating a massive increase in tariffs on imports from China. Trump said China has been sending letters to countries saying it planned to impose export controls on rare earths production.
There are relatively few U.S.-built or U.S.-flagged vessels conducting international trade, but China will ensnare more ships by applying levies to companies with 25 percent or more of their shares or board seats held by U.S.-domiciled investment funds, analysts said.
‘Quite an impact’
U.S.-based shipping company Matson told customers on Friday it is subject to the new China port fees and has no plans to change its service schedule.
Also likely affected are CMA-CGM’s U.S.-based American President Lines and Israel-based Zim, which appears to have more than 25 percent of its shares owned by U.S. entities, Lars Jensen, CEO of consultancy Vespucci Maritime, said on LinkedIn.
The China fees also could apply to vessels owned by Poseidon’s Seaspan, said Jensen, an expert on container shipping.
“This could be quite an impact as it means that the more than 100 vessels owned by Seaspan, and chartered by a variety of major container lines, would now be subject to fees in China in addition to the fees in the U.S. for their Chinese-built vessels,” Jensen said. Also starting on Tuesday, ships built in China – or operated or owned by Chinese entities – will need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States.
Vessels owned or operated by a Chinese entity will face a flat fee of $50 per net tonnage per voyage to the U.S. China-owned carrier COSCO, including its OOCL fleet, is the most exposed with fees of around $2 billion in 2026, analysts said.
Maersk Line Limited, APL, Zim, Seaspan, and COSCO did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fees.
China calls U.S. fees discriminatory
The U.S. fees on China-linked vessels, following a probe by the U.S. Trade Representative, are part of a broader U.S. effort to revive domestic shipbuilding and blunt China’s naval and commercial shipping power.
“It is clearly discriminatory and severely damages the legitimate interests of China’s shipping industry, seriously disrupts the stability of the global supply chain, and seriously undermines the international economic and trade order,” the Chinese ministry said.
The USTR’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement released later on Friday, Beijing’s commerce ministry said the Chinese countermeasures were in “justified” self-defence aimed at safeguarding fairness in the global shipping and shipbuilding markets.
Over the past two decades, China has catapulted itself to the No. 1 position in the shipbuilding world, with its biggest shipyards handling both commercial and military projects.
Last year, Chinese shipyards built more than 1,000 commercial vessels, while the U.S. constructed fewer than 10, according to military and industry analysts.
The Chinese fees on U.S. vessels could hurt the U.S. less than the U.S. fees might harm the legion of Chinese ships.
The fees announced by China, like those put in place by the U.S., “add further complexity and cost to the global network that keeps goods moving and economies connected, and risk harming their exporters, producers, and consumers at a time when global trade is already under pressure,” said Joe Kramek, president and CEO of the World Shipping Association.
Rates rise over three years
For U.S.-linked vessels berthing at Chinese ports starting Tuesday, the rate will be 400 yuan ($56.13) per net metric ton, the Chinese transport ministry said.
That will increase to 640 yuan ($89.81) from April 17, 2026, and to 880 yuan ($123.52) from April 17, 2027.
For vessels calling at Chinese ports from April 17, 2028, the charge will be 1,120 yuan ($157.16) per net metric ton.
Tensions between China and the United States have deepened since September, with the two superpowers struggling to move beyond their trade tariff truce — a 90-day pause from August 11 that ends around November 9.
Retaliatory tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war this year have sharply curtailed Chinese imports of U.S. agriculture and energy products.
Korea Times
The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday (US time) after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts – a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.
Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.
But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”
Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his ‘America First’ policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.
An Ebola outbreak that has plagued southern Congo in recent weeks is starting to be contained, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with no new cases reported since the U.N. health agency’s last update on Oct. 1.
“As of Oct. 5, 2025, 10 days have passed without any newly reported cases, indicating potential control of transmission in the affected areas,” the agency said during a news conference.
The agency said a total of 64 cases, including 53 confirmed and 11 probable, have been reported in Congo’s Kasai Province as of Oct. 5. The WHO also reported 43 deaths, including 32 confirmed and 11 probable.
Congolese authorities announced an Ebola outbreak in Congo’s southern Kasai province on Sept. 4, the first in 18 years in the remote part of the country located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the capital of Kinshasa.
Health authorities and organizations had recently sounded the alarm, warning they lack the funds and resources to mount an effective response to the crisis.
The WHO said improved logistics and field operations, including helicopter and ground deliveries of medical supplies and the decontamination of three health facilities, have helped contain the outbreak over the last week.
“This steady decline in transmission and improved case management reflect the impact of coordinated interventions led by the Ministry of Health with support from WHO and partners,” the agency said.
The WHO still advised caution, as almost 2,000 contacts — people who may have been exposed to the disease — are being monitored and a “single missed contact could reignite transmission chains, especially in areas with high population movement or limited community surveillance.”
Israeli hostages may be released as early as Saturday under a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza and the country’s military will complete the first part of a partial withdrawal from the enclave within 24 hours of the deal being signed, said a source briefed on details of the agreement.
The signing of the agreement on the first stage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s initiative for Gaza is expected to take place at noon Israel time (0900 GMT) on Thursday.
Israelis and Palestinians rejoiced after Trump announced that a ceasefire and hostage deal was reached under the first phase of his plan to end a war in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people and reshaped the Middle East.
Just a day after the second anniversary of Hamas militants’ cross-border attack that triggered Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza, indirect talks in Egypt yielded an agreement on the initial stage of Trump’s 20-point framework to bring peace to the Palestinian enclave.
The signing of the ceasefire is expected at 12 p.m. Israel time (0900 GMT), said the source briefed on the details of the agreement. The accord, if fully implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous effort to halt a war that had evolved into a regional conflict, drawing in countries such as Iran, Yemen and Lebanon.
“Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing,” said Abdul Majeed abd Rabbo, a man in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“I am not the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed.”
But the agreement announced by Trump late on Wednesday was short on detail and left many unresolved questions that could yet lead to its collapse, as has happened with previous peace efforts. “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump added.
Successful completion of the deal would mark a significant foreign policy achievement for the Republican president, who had campaigned on bringing peace to major world conflicts but has struggled to swiftly deliver, both in Gaza and on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene his government on Thursday to approve the agreement.
“With the approval of the first phase of the plan, ALL our hostages will be brought home,” he said in a statement. “This is a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel.”
The conflict upended the Middle East in Israel’s favour after it assassinated the leaders of Tehran-backed Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and killed top Iranian commanders and pounded Yemen’s Houthis.
But global outrage has mounted against Israel’s assault. Multiple rights experts, scholars and a U.N. inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defence after the 2023 Hamas attack.
Hamas confirmed it had reached an agreement to end the war, saying the deal includes an Israeli withdrawal from the enclave and a hostage-prisoner exchange.
“We affirm that the sacrifices of our people will not be in vain, and that we will remain true to our pledge – never abandoning our people’s national rights until freedom, independence, and self-determination are achieved,” Hamas said. Gaza authorities say more than 67,000 people have been killed and much of the enclave has been flattened since Israel began its military response to the Hamas cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli officials, with 20 of the 48 hostages still held believed to be alive.
“These are moments that are considered historic moments, long awaited by Palestinian citizens after two years of killing and genocide that was committed with arrogance against the Palestinian people,” said Palestinian Khaled Shaat in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza. Despite the hopes raised for ending the war, crucial details are yet to be spelled out, including the timing, a post-war administration for the Gaza Strip and the fate of Hamas.
Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza gathered in what has come to be known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv after the announcement.
“President Trump, thank you very much. We thank him, our children will not have returned home without him,” said Hatan Angrest, whose son Matan is among the hostages.
A Hamas source said the living hostages would be handed over within 72 hours of the Israeli government approving the deal. Hamas officials have insisted it will take longer to recover the bodies of dead hostages, believed to number about 28, from Gaza’s rubble.
Trump told Fox News’ ‘Hannity’ program on Wednesday that the hostages will probably be released on Monday.
Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone and congratulated each other on an “historic achievement,” and the Israeli prime minister invited the U.S. president to address Israel’s parliament, according to Netanyahu’s office. Hamas said earlier on Wednesday it had handed over its lists of the hostages it held and the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel that it wanted to be exchanged.
The Islamist group has so far refused to discuss Israel’s demand that Hamas give up its arms, which the Palestinian source said Hamas would reject as long as Israeli troops occupy Palestinian land.
Oil prices fell as the prospects of a ceasefire lessened one potential disruption to world supplies.
The next phase of Trump’s plan calls for an international body led by Trump and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to play a role in Gaza’s post-war administration.
Indian police have arrested the owner of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, the cough syrup company linked to the deaths of at least 17 children in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, a senior police officer from the region told Reuters on Thursday, as reported by Trt World.
The children, all under five years of age, died in the past month after consuming cough medicine containing toxic diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit.
The deaths were all linked to Sresan Pharma’s ‘Coldrif’ syrup, which has been banned in several parts of India after a test confirmed the presence of the chemical last Thursday.
S Ranganathan, the owner of the Tamil Nadu state-based company that manufactured the syrup, was arrested on Wednesday in Chennai and will be produced in court, said a senior police officer.
After his court appearance, Ranganathan will be moved from his home state to the city of Chhindhwara in Madhya Pradesh, Chhindhwara Superintendent of Police Ajay Pandey told Reuters.
By law, Indian drugmakers must test each batch of raw materials and the final product.
Exports of cough syrup require another layer of tests at government-mandated laboratories since 2023, after the deaths of over ten children in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon were linked to Indian syrups.
The World Health Organisation has also said that the recent case highlights a “regulatory gap” in India’s screening of medicines being sold domestically, and warned that some exports could have taken place unofficially.
Indian authorities have this week also asked people to avoid two other locally sold syrups, Respifresh and RELIFE, made by Gujarat state-based Shape Pharma and Rednex Pharmaceuticals, after tests found they too contained the same toxic chemical.
Shape and Rednex did not respond to requests for comment.
Known as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, India is the world’s third-largest drug producer by volume after the US and China.
The country supplies 40 percent of generic medicines used in the US, and more than 90 percent of all medicines in many African nations.
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