Modi promises to hunt down perpetrators of deadly Dehli attack

Today's headlines: Syria's al Sharaa accepts the six-month suspension of US sanctions and promises to fight ISIS; China and Japan in war of words after Takaichi's comments on Taiwan; Germany 'mistakenly' deports Uyghur woman to China from Germany; Singapore to introduce sustainable fuel levy on all flights; In Russia, 254,000 people to be laid off from the beginning of 2025.

INDIA

The explosion of a car near the Red Fort metro station in Delhi last night killed at least 13 people and left more than 20 injured. Investigations are following the terrorist trail: the police have arrested two men who were reportedly the previous owners of the car involved in the explosion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting Bhutan today, said that the perpetrators of the attack will not be spared.

SYRIA-UNITED STATES

US President Donald Trump received Syrian interim President Ahmad Al Sharaa at the White House, while Washington announced the temporary suspension of sanctions imposed on Damascus by the Caesar Act. The revocation, set for 180 days, excludes sanctionable transactions with Russia and Iran and can only become permanent with an act of Congress. For its part, the Syrian government signed the D-ISIS agreement for cooperation in the fight against the militias of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. A few hours before the visit on Saturday, Syrian security forces conducted a large-scale search operation in Damascus and several other provinces, killing one ISIS member and arresting dozens of people.

JAPAN-CHINA-TAIWAN

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is not backing down in the diplomatic clash with China over some of her statements made in recent days, according to which a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo. Until now, Japanese leaders had avoided mentioning Taiwan when publicly discussing such scenarios, maintaining the strategic ambiguity of the United States. Takaichi's statements prompted a threatening post from a Chinese diplomat in Japan, while Beijing lodged a formal protest against what it called blatant interference in its internal affairs.

CHINA-TURKEY-GERMANY

Last week, Germany deported a Uighur woman to China instead of Turkey due to a bureaucratic error that endangered her life, the weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported. Reziwanguli Baikeli, 57, left Xinjiang in 2017 because she felt she was at risk and lived in Turkey for a while before moving to Germany in 2024 to join her daughter and apply for asylum. However, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) rejected her asylum application and ordered her to be sent back to Turkey. But when the authorities in her place of residence in Lower Saxony discovered that she did not have Turkish identity documents, they put her on a flight to China. Upon arrival in Beijing, however, she was not arrested and was able to contact her daughter, who quickly booked her a flight to Dubai, from where she then travelled on to Istanbul.

SINGAPORE

From 1 October 2026, Singapore will introduce a sustainable aviation fuel levy for departing passengers. The levy will be charged on tickets sold from 1 April 2026 and will range from to .60, depending on the flight distance and travel class. The aim is to contribute to Singapore's goal of ensuring that 1% of jet fuel is sustainable aviation fuel by 2026, with plans to increase this to 3-5% by 2030, financed through the proceeds of the tax.

RUSSIA

According to official data from the Russian Ministry of Labour, 254,000 Russians were laid off during 2025 due to economic difficulties, adding to the nearly 100,000 who have been in this situation since the end of last year, with staff reductions in all sectors and even in the arms industry, the area in which the largest amounts of the budget have been invested since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

CENTRAL ASIA-UNITED STATES

New rules for granting driving licences in the US threaten to cost thousands of migrants from Central Asia their jobs. They have flocked to work as drivers on America's great highways as one of the most lucrative professions, enabling them to support their families from afar. Many communicated through translators, including digital ones; now, knowledge of English is a prerequisite, especially in the strictest states.

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