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Washington: President Donald Trump-led US administration has proposed a steep new fee of USD 70,000 for international students seeking to work in the United States, in the latest move aimed at tightening rules around foreign student enrolment and employment. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed a rule under which educational institutions would have to pay the fee for every international student entering the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme. The programme allows eligible foreign students to gain work experience in jobs connected to their academic field while studying or after completing their education in the US. Schools could…

Washington: US President Donald Trump has weighed in on the ongoing protests in France, rejecting the view that the unrest is primarily about education and school conditions. In a post on Truth Social, Trump linked the demonstrations to what he described as "out of control mass migration" and alleged that the protests were connected to Islam. "What's happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration. This isn't about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!" Trump wrote.  Trump did not elaborate on the claim or provide evidence linking the student-led…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday completed 25 years of public service as an elected representative. On this occasion, he received congratulations and best wishes from leaders across the country and the world. Meanwhile, a video of former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić praising PM Modi has gone viral. Praising PM Modi, former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said, "He has taken India to great heights. If India is important on the global stage today, it is because of PM Modi. He has done great things." In the meantime, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, while congratulating PM Modi, praised his political leadership…

Few stretches of water sit where so many interests collide. Here, Russia's reach meets NATO's eastern flank. Two countries locked in war depend on the same waters to keep their economies alive. Food and fuel bound for distant continents must squeeze through a single narrow bottleneck, guarded by a single country. This is the Black Sea. On a map, it can look like just another enclosed body of water framed by Europe and Asia. It is anything but. Six nations line its coast: Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and Georgia. Yet its real footprint stretches thousands of kilometres away, into…

Thimphu: Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the completion of his 25 years in government, recalling a 2019 meeting in which he described the Indian leader as an "avatar of Vishnu" and his "elder brother". Tobgay said that while he initially wondered whether the comparison had gone too far, his subsequent assessment of Modi's political journey strengthened his belief in the remarks. Tobgay shared the recollection on social media on Wednesday as Narendra Modi completed 25 years in public office. He recalled meeting PM Modi in New Delhi on July 27, 2019, when he…