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July 6, 2026
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India’s jewellery exports and diamond imports disrupted as Iran conflict escalates

India’s jewellery exports and diamond imports disrupted as Iran conflict escalates

File photo: A man works on a diamond and gold ring inside a Senco Gold & Diamonds jewellery workshop in Kolkata, India. The Middle East conflict has disrupted India's gems and jewellery exports, as well as imports of rough diamonds ‌from the United Arab Emirates, because ​of widespread flight cancellations ‌and airspace closures.Dubai, a major global hub ‌for ⁠polished and ‌rough diamonds and bullion, has ‌suspended numerous cargo and passenger flights, affecting trade flows ⁠and shipments of both exports and essential raw materials, industry officials said."Exports and imports from the Middle East have come to a standstill, and there are no logistics in place to move goods," Vipul Shah, managing director of Asian ​Star, a leading diamond exporter, told Reuters.The Middle East accounts for nearly a quarter of India's annual gems and jewellery ‌exports of around $30 ⁠billion, while the ​United Arab Emirates makes up more than ​two-thirds of the country's rough diamond imports.India is the world's largest cutting and polishing hub, handling nine out of every 10 diamonds processed globally.The country's gems and jewellery exports will fall in March as Dubai is not only a major market for gems and jewellery, but also a key intermediary between diamond-producing countries ‌and major consumer markets, said ‌Shaunak Parikh, vice-⁠chairman of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council."If ⁠it (the conflict) ⁠drags on, it could hurt demand,” Parikh said.India has been relying on demand from the Middle East after its top buyer, the US, imposed hefty tariffs on Indian goods last year and curtailed purchases.Overseas ​buyers are cautious about placing orders amid volatility in the rupee-US dollar exchange rate and logistical constraints, said Colin Shah, managing director of Kama Jewelry.The Indian rupee fell to a record low of 92.3025 per US dollar on Wednesday.Both buyers and sellers know the war has disrupted trade, so they are ‌agreeing to ​delay shipments, said a Mumbai-based diamond exporter.  Related Story

World
German school students rally against army recruitment drive

German school students rally against army recruitment drive

Demonstrators hold a banner that reads "The rich want war, the youth wants a future" during a protest against the potential return of military conscription in Berlin, Germany, Thursday. Thousands of German teenagers skipped school Thursday to join protests against a stepped-up military recruitment drive that many fear may in future involve a form of conscription.About 3,000 students gathered on Berlin's Potsdamer Platz square, with smaller demonstrations held across Germany as part of a nationwide "school strike"."I don't see why anyone should have to go to the front lines for politicians," Alex Krzeszka, a 15-year-old student, told AFP at the Berlin rally."I don't see it as morally right, and I think war should never be the solution. Problems should be solved diplomatically."Germany, like other European countries, has sought to build up its armed forces in response to Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the threat of further aggression against Nato members.Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to turn the Bundeswehr into Europe's largest conventional army, banking initially on a voluntary recruitment drive.The government this year started requiring all 18-year-old men to fill out questionnaires about their interest and fitness for short-term military service.Women are also being asked to fill out the forms, but cannot be compelled to do so under current German law.Among the signs being waved by protesters in Berlin was a poster that read "We are not cannon fodder" while another demanded: "Send Friedrich Merz to the front line!"For now at least, German lawmakers have decided against bringing back mandatory conscription, which Germany suspended in 2011.But some politicians have expressed doubts about whether ambitious recruiting targets can be achieved without some from of conscription.Plans call for strengthening the Bundeswehr from about 185,000 active-duty troops now to 260,000 by 2030, while roughly quadrupling the size of the reserves to 200,000.The Bundeswehr shrank dramatically after the end of the Cold War as countries across Europe slashed defence budgets.In the 1980s, West Germany alone had fielded a military of nearly 500,000 troops."I think they should definitely advertise for the Bundeswehr, but it absolutely shouldn't be compulsory," Leander Martinez, a 16-year-old student from Berlin, told AFP."Reintroducing conscription is nothing other than rearmament," Leon Reinemann, a student who helped organise the school strike in the western city of Koblenz, told broadcaster NTV.He defended the fact students were skipping classes, saying that "a single day of absence from school is significantly less serious than six months in the barracks".Others took a more staunchly pacifist stance at the Berlin demonstration."I'm against conscription and against war propaganda," Tillmann, a 19-year-old student who declined to give his last name, told AFP."And I think murdering someone is always wrong, even if the state says that someone should be murdered. There's nothing more important than human life." 

World
Ukraine, Russia free 200 POWs each

Ukraine, Russia free 200 POWs each

Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) are seen after a swap, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location in Ukraine, Thursday. Ukraine and Russia each freed 200 prisoners of war Thursday, the first part of an exchange that will see them swap 500 people each in total, officials said.The two sides agreed to the exchange during talks in Geneva last month, both sides said. Prisoner swaps are one of the few areas of co-operation between the warring countries."Today, 200 Ukrainian families received the most-awaited message – their loved ones are coming home," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.Video shared by Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets showed servicemen leaving buses, wrapped in Ukrainian flags and shouting "Glory to Ukraine!", as well as embracing those who came to welcome them.Among those freed were Ukrainian soldiers captured in 2022, including some who fought in the three-month-long Russian siege of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, said Lubinets.At the site of the exchange in the northern Chernigiv region, Kateryna Movchan, 29, waited for news of her uncle, Valentyn, who went missing on the front in 2024."We're hoping that maybe someone will recognise him and there will be at least some kind of feedback," Movchan, from the northwestern Rivne region, told AFP."We have absolutely no information at all: how he is, where he is," she added.The Russian defence ministry published footage showing its soldiers boarding a bus and cheering while draped in Russian flags.The United Arab Emirates and the United States helped mediate Thursday's exchange, Russia said.More prisoners will be released today, with the two sides set to exchange 500 each in total, Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on Telegram.There have been several prisoner exchanges during the war. The swaps are among the few tangible results of talks between the two sides, mediated by Washington as it seeks to broker a deal to end the war.Negotiations appear to have stalled, with the United States now focusing its attention on the Middle East.Kyiv had said there was a tentative plan to hold talks in Abu Dhabi this week – one of the places being hit by Iranian missiles and drones.Zelensky on Monday suggested holding the next meeting in Switzerland or Turkiye, which both have hosted previous talks, instead.  Related Story

World
Starmer says UK’s relationship with US still special after Trump criticism

Starmer says UK’s relationship with US still special after Trump criticism

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives an update on the situation in the Middle East at Downing Street Briefing Room, in London, Thursday. The "special relationship" between Britain and the US remains intact and they continue to share intelligence, Prime Minister Keir ‌Starmer said Thursday, after Donald Trump rebuked ​him for hesitating to support ‌US strikes on Iran.After initially refusing to allow ‌the United ⁠States to ‌use British bases for the ‌US-Israeli campaign, Starmer has come under personal attack from the US ⁠president, who said the British leader was "not Winston Churchill".Speaking at a press conference, Starmer defended his decisions both to withhold initial access to bases, and then to participate in "defensive" operations against Iran, once Tehran had responded by attacking its neighbours."The special relationship is in operation right now," Starmer said. "We are ​working together in the region, the US and the British working together to protect both the US and the British in joint bases, ‌where we're jointly located ⁠and we're sharing ​intelligence on a 24/7 basis in the usual ​way."As well as the tongue-lashing from Trump, Starmer has also faced criticism for his cautious response from other allies in the region, including Cyprus where an Iranian-made drone hit one of Britain's military bases on the island.He has also faced criticism at home, including from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a right-wing Trump supporter, who has accused the prime minister of dithering."What Keir Starmer has done ‌in alienating the American administration ‌is not to just ⁠put that relationship personally at stake, but frankly to risk ⁠a relationship with ⁠a country without whom we are defenceless," he told Reuters Thursday.Starmer's government said this week it would deploy a warship, as well as helicopters with counter-drone capabilities, to help blunt Iran's retaliatory strikes, and Thursday he announced he would send four more ​Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar to provide additional protection.Britain, like other European countries, is searching for ways to repatriate citizens stranded in the Middle East by a conflict that has shut some of the world's busiest airports.Starmer said more than 4,000 people had arrived back in the United Kingdom on commercial flights from the UAE, while 140,000 British nationals had registered ‌their presence in ​the region.  Related Story

Entertainment
Todd Meadows’ Mom Says ‘Deadliest Catch’ Should NOT Air Video of Fatal Incident

Todd Meadows’ Mom Says ‘Deadliest Catch’ Should NOT Air Video of Fatal Incident

'Deadliest Catch' Todd Meadows' Mom Does Not Want His Death Aired Published March 4, 2026 12:52 PM PST "Deadliest Catch" cameras were rolling when deckhand Todd Meadows fell overboard off the coast of Alaska last

Opinion
Cartoon Corner

Cartoon Corner

Cartoon Corner

Entertainment
Harry Styles Says Grief Over Liam Payne Felt Co-Opted by Public

Harry Styles Says Grief Over Liam Payne Felt Co-Opted by Public

Harry Styles I Didn't Feel Like I Owned All My Payne Grief Published March 4, 2026 11:56 AM PST Play video content Apple Music Harry Styles says it seemed like other people felt entitled to

Entertainment
Chix On Netflix — Guess Whose Sexy Swimwear!

Chix On Netflix — Guess Whose Sexy Swimwear!

Grab your popcorn, kick back, and enjoy this lil' snack! Can you guess which Netflix star shared these thirst traps?! "To All The Boys I've She's Loved Before" .... there's your first clue! Here's your

News
All Jebel Ali terminals are operating normally: DP World

All Jebel Ali terminals are operating normally: DP World

All terminals at Jebel Ali Port in Dubai are operating normally, DP World - the port operator - said on Wednesday."We continue to monitor developments closely and remain in close coordination with the relevant authorities.

Sports
Alcaraz ready to extend unbeaten run at Indian Wells, Sa…

Alcaraz ready to extend unbeaten run at Indian Wells, Sa…

Carlos Alcaraz puts his flawless start to the season on the line and fellow top seed Aryna Sabalenka aims to regroup from Australian Open disappointment as Indian Wells begins this week.Alcaraz arrives in the Southern