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People sit in a cafe in the GUM department store, which is a popular destination for tourists from Arabic-speaking countries, in Moscow, Russia. In sub-zero temperatures outside Moscow, teams of husky dogs pull tourists from Oman and the United Arab Emirates across picturesque snow-covered fields in sleds, delighting their passengers who have never experienced a Russian winter before. Nearby, a couple from Qatar feed a small herd of deer and other tourists from the Middle East drive a hovercraft at high speed across a snowy lake. “It was like drifting in the desert but here on ice,” said Badreya Almarooqi, a tourist from the UAE at the Nazarievo Husky Park — 45km west of central Moscow — where signs are written in Arabic as well as Russian. North of the city, another group of Gulf tourists crowd into a hot air balloon to drift over a vast snowy landscape. “(It was) one of the best activities in my life!” said Ayoub Aziz, a tourist from Saudi Arabia drawn to the experience in the Dmitrov district 65km from the city centre, one of many such activity destinations dotted around the capital. Four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, Moscow’s pivot away from the West and its quest to draw nearer to other parts of the world has produced an Arabic-speaking tourism boom. There are more direct flights between Moscow and key Gulf capitals, new visa-free regimes and closer diplomatic ties due to the roles of Gulf states in brokering prisoner exchanges or the handover of children to Ukraine. With more than 800,000 visits last year, tourists from China, long a close Russian partner, lead official figures by a long way. But Saudi Arabia secured the number two slot for the first time last year with nearly 75,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of nearly 36%, while more than 59,000 tourists came from the UAE, putting it in sixth place. “Virtually all Arab countries have at least doubled their numbers, said Alexander Musikhin, general director of the Intourist tour operator. “But there are also destinations like Saudi Arabia, which has increased its arrivals in Russia — and in Moscow in particular — by almost 15 times compared with the pre-pandemic period,” he said. Visitors from the Gulf stay in high-end hotels in the centre of the capital and are a common sight in upmarket Russia-themed restaurants and well-known shopping streets or malls. They often spend at least 200,000-300,000 roubles ($6,523) on extra services, tour operators say, and would spend more if the rules did not limit them to bringing in $10,000 in cash without a declaration. Western sanctions mean Visa and Mastercard do not work in Russia, “so it has to be in cash”, UAE tourist Rashan Godani said. Despite its war with Ukraine, Russia welcomed a total of 1.64mn tourists in 2025 according to the country’s association of tour operators, 4.5% up on 2024, but sharply down on 2018, the year Russia held the World Cup when 4.2mn foreign tourists visited. By contrast, 2.45mn Russians visited the UAE alone last year, up by nearly a quarter year-on-year, and some Russian businessmen have opened up offices in Dubai. Musikhin, the Intourist head, said fallout from the conflict was limiting growth. He cited the periodic and temporary closure of Russian airports due to Ukrainian drone attacks and the longer time it takes tourists to cross the border due to heightened security checks.“Tourists are generally understanding about this,” he said. Source link
Visually impaired students read the Holy Qur’an in Braille during the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a school in Surabaya, Indonesia's East Java province, yesterday. Source link
This handout photo taken on February 26, 2026 and released yesterday by the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Public Affairs Office shows a Philippine air force FA-50…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in India yesterday for a visit he hopes will reset ties and double trade, offsetting the damage from his country’s fracturing relations with the United States.Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi of orchestrating a deadly campaign against Sikh activists in Canada.He arrived in the financial hub of Mumbai, where he is expected to address business leaders before travelling to the capital and meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the final day of his visit.Indian broadcasters showed a police convoy as Carney was whisked through Mumbai.India’s foreign ministry said Carney’s visit marked a “significant step in further strengthening India-Canada ties”.”The India-Canada partnership is anchored in shared democratic values, strong people-to-people ties, and expanding co-operation across diverse sectors,” ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.Carney’s office said discussions would focus on “ambitious new partnerships in trade, energy, technology and artificial intelligence (AI), talent and culture, and defence”.Last year, the two countries agreed to resume negotiations on a proposed free-trade agreement.Carney has said he wanted to more than double two-way trade with India by 2030, eyeing an annual target of $51 billion.Before Carney took office last year, Ottawa accused Modi’s government of direct involvement in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a naturalised Canadian citizen who was part of a fringe group that advocated for an independent Sikh state called Khalistan.Khalistan militants have been blamed for the assassination of an Indian prime minister and the bombing of a passenger jet.Former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government further alleged India had directed a campaign of intimidation against Sikh activists across Canada.India has repeatedly dismissed the allegations, which sent diplomatic relations into freefall, with both nations expelling a string of top diplomats in 2024.Ties improved after Carney took office in March 2025, and envoys have since been restored.Asked whether Canadian concerns about transnational repression would feature at the New Delhi talks, Foreign Minister Anita Anand told reporters: “That is always at the forefront of our minds.”India, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, is seeking to attract more overseas investments, and says Canadian pension and wealth funds have already invested $73 billion.Energy-hungry India – the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people – hopes Canada can support its ambitious plan to expand nuclear power capacity.After India, Carney will travel on to Australia and Japan, part of a broad effort to pivot the Canadian economy away from excessive reliance on its southern neighbour, the United States.In 2024, before US President Donald Trump returned to office and upended global trade through a flurry of tariffs, more than 75 percent of Canadian exports went to the United States. Two-way trade that year exceeded $900 billion.So far Trump broadly adhered to the North American free trade agreement he signed during his first term, and about 85 percent of US-Canada trade remains tariff-free.But at the same time, Trump has also imposed painful industry-specific tariffs, and there are fears that if he scraps the broader trade deal, the Canadian economy will be hit hard.Carney has made boosting commerce with Europe and Asia cornerstones of his strategy to backstop Canada’s economy, should free trade with Washington collapse.Carney’s hopes for trade growth with Australia and Japan are more modest, but his office said co-operation over critical mineral supply chains will be a priority.Advanced economies have made a push to deepen critical mineral co-operation, especially in the processing of rare earth elements essential to power many high-tech products.China currently has dominant control of rare earth supply chains, a concern that Canada highlighted throughout its just-concluded G7 presidency. Source link
Kashmiri Muslim men offer prayers on the second Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan along a street in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir, February 27, 2026. Source link
Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdelatty, held a telephone conversation with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, to discuss the latest developments regarding border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a statement on Friday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Abdelatty called for calm and restraint to help lower tensions and spare the region further instability. The statement added that Egypt expressed its “deep concern” over the escalating border tensions and clashes, which have resulted in a number of casualties. Egypt urged all parties involved to exercise the utmost levels of self-restraint. The ministry underscored the importance of exhausting all possible diplomatic avenues to achieve a truce and defuse the crisis, preventing the region from sliding into further escalation. It further emphasized the necessity of prioritizing political and diplomatic solutions to settle disputes in a manner that preserves regional security and stability. Source link
Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull reacts as he speaks during an interview in Sydney Thursday. Australia ditching the British monarchy is “more important than ever” and voters would likely back a head of state elected by its parliament, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told AFP Thursday.Turnbull — who served as prime minister from 2015 to 2018 — led the country’s Republic Movement’s unsuccessful 1999 referendum bid to replace the British monarchy with an Australian head of state.Almost three decades on from that poll and as the British monarchy reels from the arrest of ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — the first of a royal in the modern era — Turnbull told AFP an elected head of state could heal Australia’s “tribal” politics.”I think a republic is more important than ever,” he said. “The monarchy remains this anachronism.”Australia was a British colony for more than 100 years and gained de facto independence in 1901, but has never become a fully fledged republic.Current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued a full-throated call for Andrew to be removed from the royal line of succession.Albanese is an avowed republican but has ruled out another referendum on the issue during his tenure.But Turnbull told AFP he believed Australians would “absolutely” back a system in which the head of state was instead elected by the parliament in Canberra.”The virtue of having a republic in Australia is that it emphasises the thing we have in common as Australians.”In addition to being one of Australia’s most prominent republicans, Turnbull is also an outspoken opponent of the AUKUS, a multi-decade defence pact with Britain and the US.The pact aims to arm Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and would provide for co-operation in developing an array of warfare technologies.But Turnbull told AFP that Australia will “almost certainly” get no nuclear submarines (SSNs) out of the deal.”It’s this vast expenditure and this vast investment which will very likely result in us having no submarines at all,” he said.”The US has made it very clear — it’s set out in their legislation — that no submarines can be sold to us unless the president certifies essentially that their navy doesn’t require them,” he said.”At the moment, they are producing about half as many SSNs as the American Navy needs, let alone to cater for the American and Australian needs.”He described it as a “terrible deal” and echoed French ex-defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s claim that Australia “has sacrificed sovereignty for the sake of security, but will end up losing both”.Turnbull argued that Australia must ditch AUKUS and place its own interests front and centre as Canberra increasingly navigates a world order defined by American “bullying”.He described American threats to annex Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland “mind-boggling”. “That’s the stuff of a dystopian novel, frankly,” he said. “This is wild stuff. And I think we’re in a disrupted age.” But he places little faith in the political party he once led as being able to guide Australia through troubled times.”The Liberal Party is failing Australia,” he said.That party has endured an existential crisis since their second consecutive defeat by Albanese’s Labor last year, torn between centrists and right-wingers sceptical of climate change and urging a tougher line on immigration.Opinion polling has shown the Liberals falling behind the far-right and populist One Nation party led by Pauline Hanson, a longtime senator notorious for racist outbursts.This month, the Liberals dumped leader Sussan Ley in favour of the more right-wing Angus Taylor.Turnbull — who has described Taylor as the “best-qualified idiot” around — warned the party faced disaster if it continued down that path.He told AFP its decision last year to ditch a commitment to net zero emissions was “culture war lunacy”.”The more you go off to the populist right, the more you elevate all of these culture war issues, and, you know, divisive, often racist issues, the more you elevate Hanson — you can’t out-Hanson Hanson.””Australian politics is decided — and contested — in the centre.” Related Story Source link
A US judge Thursday declined to block President Donald Trump from proceeding with construction of a $400mn White House ballroom to replace the demolished East Wing, finding that a challenge from preservationists did not meet the high bar for a preliminary injunction that would halt the project for now. US District Judge Richard Leon's ruling came in a lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation aiming to stop construction until the White House complies with federal law and rules including congressional authorisation. The National Trust had sought a preliminary injunction to freeze the work on the ballroom, planned to be 90,000sq ft (8,360sq m), while the private nonprofit group's lawsuit proceeds.The Trump administration has argued that the project is consistent with established presidential renovation practices and serves the public interest.Leon, in his ruling, said he could not issue an injunction based on the specific arguments the National Trust made, but he said the group could amend its complaint to reassert its claims that Trump is acting beyond his authority.’Unfortunately, because both sides initially focused on the President's constitutional authority to destruct and construct the East Wing of the White House, Plaintiff didn't bring the necessary cause of action to test the statutory authority the President claims is the basis to do this construction project without the blessing of Congress and with private funds,’ Leon wrote in his ruling.Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform called the decision ‘Great news for America, and our wonderful White House!’ He said the ballroom ‘will stand long into the future as a symbol to the Greatness of America!’The National Trust did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The National Trust sued Trump and several federal agencies in December, arguing that the project moved ahead unlawfully without required approvals, environmental review or authorisation by Congress.Trump's demolition of the East Wing building, a part of the White House complex originally built in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency and greatly expanded in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, was carried out in October. Construction equipment tore down the structure, which had housed the first lady's offices, a theatre and a visitors' entrance that welcomed foreign dignitaries.The ballroom project is one of several major changes Trump has made to the White House since returning to office in January 2025. Trump has added gold accents throughout the Oval Office and converted the Rose Garden lawn into a paved patio resembling one at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.The National Trust argued that federal law bars construction on federal parkland in Washington without the express authority of Congress. It also argued the National Park Service violated federal law by issuing an environmental assessment instead of a full impact statement, and by releasing it after demolition had begun. ‘No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,’ the lawsuit said.The administration has defended the legality of the project, arguing it follows in a long line of presidential renovations. It said in a court filing that the ballroom is needed for state functions, its design is still evolving and above-ground construction is not planned until April, making an injunction unnecessary. Last week, the US Commission of Fine Arts approved Trump’s ballroom proposal. The panel, whose commissioners were appointed by Trump in January, advanced the project on a unanimous 6-0 vote.Trump's swift demolition of the East Wing drew scorn from preservationists and other critics, who saw the project as an extension of the Republican president's claims of expansive presidential powers. Trump has defended the project, asserting in a post on his Truth Social platform that his use of private donations for the project means ‘ZERO taxpayer funding.’ Trump called the planned ballroom a ‘desperately needed space.’No firm completion date has been given but the White House said it will be ‘long before the end’ of Trump's term. Source link
US Vice-President J D Vance speaks at Pointe Precision in Plover, Wisconsin Thursday. (Reuters) US Vice-President J D Vance took aim at Democrats in a partisan speech Thursday in a competitive Wisconsin district, as the White House tries to protect a narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Vance visited Plover, part of Wisconsin’s third congressional district, which lies at the heart of the region that first lifted Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.Democrats are targeting this district in their quest to regain control of the lower house of Congress, leaning on voters’ dissatisfaction with the state of the economy. The district’s incumbent congressman, Derrick Van Orden, won re-election in 2024 by less than three points.Van Orden sits in one of two Republican-held seats in Wisconsin that Democrats are targeting in the midterms. The former Navy SEAL senior chief is closely aligned with the president, whose polling on the economy has worsened since he retook office last January.Vance argued Democrats deserve blame for higher prices that started rising during the Biden administration.”Hearing the Democrats talk about affordability is like hearing an arsonist complain about fire,” said Vance, speaking at a machining plant.Voters in the third district, located in the southwestern part of the state, delivered victories for a string of Democratic presidential candidates for decades, including Barack Obama, until Donald Trump carried the district in 2016. He also won the district by seven points in 2024, part of a sweep of battleground states that propelled him to victory over Democrat Kamala Harris.In Wisconsin, the vice-president visited a factory, Pointe Precision, and underscored the Republican president’s economic message from Tuesday’s State of the Union address. During that speech, Trump promoted his efforts on a sweep of kitchen-table economic issues from housing to healthcare and utility bills. But he stopped short of acknowledging that many Americans are still struggling with the high cost of food and housing. Just 36% of voters approve of how Trump is handling the economy, according to the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. Some Republican Party strategists have warned that without a more emphatic message on inflation, Republicans are at risk of losing control of Congress in November.”J D Vance has a tough job today,” said Mandela Barnes, a Democratic candidate in the state’s competitive gubernatorial election, also set for November. “He’s got to look Wisconsin families in the eye and tell them this economy is working for them.”The White House is set to showcase the president and top administration officials in competitive political areas to highlight Trump’s economic agenda. He is expected to visit Texas on Friday for an event focused on energy and the economy.Vance’s trip was his second in office to Wisconsin’s third congressional district after a trip to La Crosse in August.National Democrats said this week they are ramping up spending in the district, where Van Orden won re-election in 2024 by fewer than three percentage points.Trump endorsed Van Orden in the 2026 race 10 months ago. The primary election to pick his Democratic opponent will be held on August 11. Related Story Source link
A woman walks through Nuseirat Refugee Camp, north of Dier Al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, Thursday. (AFP) Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip seem aimed at creating “permanent demographic change”, UN rights chief Volker Turk said Thursday.”Taken together, Israel’s actions appear aimed at making a permanent demographic change in Gaza and the West Bank, raising concerns about ethnic cleansing”, Turk said in a speech before the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.Turk pointed in particular to an ongoing, year-long Israeli military operation in the West Bank’s north that has caused the displacement of 32,000 Palestinians.Elsewhere in the West Bank, entire Bedouin herder communities have been displaced by increasing harassment and violence from Israeli settlers, including near Mikhmas to the east of Ramallah, and Ras Ein Al-Auja, in the Jordan Valley, since the start of the year.In addition to roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.Israel has approved a series of initiatives this month backed by far-right ministers, including launching a process to register land in the West Bank as “state property” and allowing Israelis to purchase land there directly, in a move condemned by several countries.Israel’s current government has accelerated settlement expansion, approving a record 54 settlements in 2025, according to Israeli settlement watchdog NGO Peace Now.Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.In the Gaza Strip, most of the territory’s 2.2mn inhabitants have been displaced at least once since the start of the Hamas-Israel war.”Intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza”, the UN human rights office said in a report last week.”They want maximum land and minimum Arabs”, Fathi Nimer, a researcher with Palestinian think-tank Al-Shabaka, told AFP, referring to a commonly used phrase used to describe Israeli settlement tactics. Related Story Source link