World

US President Donald Trump is set to sign an order renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War, CNN reported. The move, previewed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, follows Trump's remarks that the original name reflected America's military history and purpose.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the new $550 billion trade deal with Japan will boost America's energy, chip, mining, and shipbuilding sectors, calling it a 'game changer' under the America First trade agenda, with President Trump overseeing the investments.

Of the 17 sorties, nine crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and southwestern ADIZ.

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the opening of two new Apple stores in India, Apple Hebbal in Bengaluru and Apple Koregaon Park in Pune, saying he was thrilled to bring the best of Apple to customers across the country.

The India International Centre is hosting an International conference on South Asia's Manuscript Heritage and Mathematical Contributions till Friday.

He underlined how an early end to the conflict in Ukraine is in the interest of everyone.

Afghanistan continued to reel under earthquakes as another tremor of magnitude 4.9 struck the nation in the early hours of Friday, as reported by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).

Bangladesh's interim government amended the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act. The new clause disqualifies election candidates if they are formally charged with crimes against humanity. This also applies to government jobs.

Pakistan and China reaffirmed their strategic partnership and agreed on CPEC 2.0, including five new corridors. Pakistan seeks to emulate China's development, prioritizing collaboration in agriculture, IT, and other sectors. Agreements were signed to boost cooperation.

The statement emphasised that the United States is committed to 'countering China's corrupt influence in Central America and stopping its attempts to subvert the rule of law.'

An earthquake of magnitude 3.8 struck Tibet in the early hours of Friday, as reported by the National Centre for Seismology.

The remarks by P Kumaran, Secretary (East), on Thursday came during the special briefing on the visit of Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to India, where media queries were raised on whether the Trump tariffs are a concern for India and Singapore.

The White House said in a post on X, '@POTUS has signed an Executive Order officially implementing the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement.'

India and Singapore have agreed to form teams and take the discussion on civil nuclear cooperation forward, P Kumaran, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

The series of engagements comes shortly after PM Modi had spoken to Russian President Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit and prior to his visit to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

Earlier on Thursday morning, an earthquake of magnitude 4.8 struck Afghanistan.

Officials from the company, Exo Imaging, led by its co-founders Yusuf Haque and Sandeep Akkaraju, met with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Thursday at the state guest house Jamuna to discuss the groundbreaking technology and its potential impact.

Nepal is experiencing an outage on Facebook and Instagram while attempting to log in from a browser, as the government's enforcement of a ban on unregistered social media comes into effect.

UAE's Ambassador to India, Abdulnasser Alshaali, hosted an exclusive session with 40 students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi's Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at the UAE Embassy in New Delhi, an official statement noted.

The Hong Kong court has issued an arrest warrant for a 30-year-old mainland Chinese man accused of misrepresenting his academic background to obtain a visa through the city's Top Talent Pass Scheme.

The quake follows a series of earthquakes earlier this week that killed more than 2,200 people

Singapore is looking to partner with India to develop maintenance, repair, and overhauling (MRO) capabilities in civil aviation in India, said the Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (East) P Kumaran.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday gave a call for further strengthening self-reliance and Atmanirbharta in the wake of the evolving global scenario.

At the invitation of PM Modi, his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong is on an official visit to India from September 2-4. It is Wong's first visit to India in his capacity as Singapore's Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a joint telephone call with the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Thursday.