Heavy Rain Lashes Northern India, Yamuna River Breaches Danger Mark in Delhi 

Residents use a boat to cross the flood waters from the swollen Yamuna River at Yamuna Bazar in New Delhi, India, 02 September 2025. (EPA)
Residents use a boat to cross the flood waters from the swollen Yamuna River at Yamuna Bazar in New Delhi, India, 02 September 2025. (EPA)
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Heavy Rain Lashes Northern India, Yamuna River Breaches Danger Mark in Delhi 

Residents use a boat to cross the flood waters from the swollen Yamuna River at Yamuna Bazar in New Delhi, India, 02 September 2025. (EPA)
Residents use a boat to cross the flood waters from the swollen Yamuna River at Yamuna Bazar in New Delhi, India, 02 September 2025. (EPA)

Widespread flooding has hit several parts of northern India, officials said, with more thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday as local media reported that 10,000 people were evacuated from the river banks in capital Delhi.

The monsoon season in India has been particularly intense this year, killing at least 130 people in August alone in north India, wiping out villages and destroying infrastructure.

The latest round of flooding has hit northern Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, where the Chenab and Tawi rivers have risen above the danger mark at several spots.

The swollen rivers have triggered landslides and damaged many roads, disconnecting parts of the mountainous regions of Jammu and Himachal from the rest of India.

A woman and her daughter were killed after rains brought down a wall in their house in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, a regional official said.

The India Meteorological Department warned of heavy to very heavy rain in the region on Wednesday, with more downpours expected in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The Central Water Commission said the swollen Yamuna had breached its danger mark on Tuesday in Delhi.

Local media reported that nearly 10,000 people had been evacuated to relief camps set up by the government along the main highways as a precautionary measure for those living in low-lying areas. Residents living along the Yamuna in Delhi were evacuated in 2023 as well after floodwaters entered their homes and the river hit its highest level in 45 years.

Many tourist spots in Himachal Pradesh have been hit by landslides in recent weeks, as raging rivers damaged infrastructure.

Three people were killed in Mandi district in the latest landslide, state Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday, and two more were feared trapped under the debris.

Educational institutions were ordered shut, authorities said, asking people to remain indoors due to flood warnings.

In neighboring Punjab, the government said 30 people have been killed and nearly 20,000 evacuated since August 1.

Water gushing through the plains in India's breadbasket Punjab state has destroyed 150,000 hectares of crops, the government said on Tuesday. Continuous rain prompted authorities to release water from dams, which has caused flooding in plains in India and Pakistan in recent days.



Trump Says Agreed to Greenland Meeting in Davos

United States President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2026. (EPA)
United States President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2026. (EPA)
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Trump Says Agreed to Greenland Meeting in Davos

United States President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2026. (EPA)
United States President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2026. (EPA)

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had agreed to a meeting of "various parties" at the Davos gathering of global elites about his bid to seize Greenland.

Trump's attempt to buy the Danish autonomous territory has rocked the global order, with the US president stepping up pressure on European leaders over their pushback against his plan to seize the strategic Arctic island.

"I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

"As I expressed to everyone, very plainly, Greenland is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back - On that, everyone agrees!"

Trump has insisted that the United States needs Greenland's vast territory, with Russia and China increasing military activities nearby and Arctic ice melting due to climate change.

In a separate post, the US president shared an AI-generated image of himself holding an American flag next to a sign that read "Greenland - US territory est. 2026," flanked by his Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Trump, who is due in Davos on Wednesday, shared another AI-generated image of world leaders at a meeting at which he presents a map with the American flag covering the United States, Canada, Greenland and Venezuela.

An emboldened Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.

He has also vowed to annex Canada and routinely refers to country as the 51st US state.
Trump also wrote on Truth Social that he had a "very good telephone call" on Greenland with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

The US president posted a screenshot he claimed showed a message from Rutte saying he was "committed to finding a way forward on Greenland."

Trump said he did not think European leaders would "push back too much" on his attempt to seize the territory, telling reporters on Monday: "They can't protect it."


UN Rights Council to Hold Emergency Session on Iran, Document Shows

FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)
FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)
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UN Rights Council to Hold Emergency Session on Iran, Document Shows

FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)
FILE - This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Iranian Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)

The UN Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session on Iran on Friday, with proponents aiming to discuss "alarming violence" used against protesters, a document showed on Tuesday.

An Iranian official said authorities have verified at least 5,000 deaths in the protests ‌which are ‌the biggest demonstrations since 2022, ‌prompting ⁠UN rights ‌chief Volker Turk to condemn the violence.

"A special session is needed because of the importance and urgency of the situation, in particular due to credible reports of alarming violence, crackdowns on protesters and violations of international human ⁠rights law across the country," according to a letter written ‌by Iceland's ambassador Einar ‍Gunnarsson on behalf of ‍a group of countries including Germany and ‍Britain, and seen by Reuters.

The special session will happen on Friday, the UN confirmed, adding that 21 countries so far have supported the proposal.

Human Rights Watch has denounced mass unlawful killings and is asking for an existing ⁠UN probe, set up by the council in 2022 after the last wave of protests, to investigate the deaths and be given extra financing to do so.

Iran's diplomatic mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Diplomats said Iran had sent to missions pages of rebuttal against allegations of a crackdown, saying the clashes followed armed ‌attacks on security forces.


Iran FM Says Davos Appearance Cancellation Based on ‘Lies’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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Iran FM Says Davos Appearance Cancellation Based on ‘Lies’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Iran's foreign minister hit out at the World Economic Forum in Davos for cancelling his appearance over a crackdown on recent protests, saying the decision was based on "lies and political pressure".

Protests in Iran sparked by economic strain in late December exploded into the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years, with the full scale of the violent crackdown yet to emerge due to an internet blackout.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was slated to speak on Tuesday at the annual gathering of global elites in Switzerland, but was disinvited after the WEF said it would not be "right" due to the "loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks".

Araghchi said his appearance was cancelled "on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its US-based proxies and apologists", in an X post late Monday.

He called it a "blatant double standard" to disinvite him while inviting Israel after its war in Gaza, saying it "conveys moral depravity and intellectual bankruptcy".

Iranian officials have said the recent demonstrations were peaceful before descending into "riots" fueled by Iran's arch-foes the United States and Israel in an effort to destabilize the nation.

Araghchi's post on X was accompanied by a video saying the demonstrations were a "terror operation" spurred by Israel's Mossad spy agency.

Rights groups say they have verified at least several thousand protesters killed by Iranian security forces, with some estimates putting the true figure as high as 20,000 dead.

The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, which has verified the deaths of at least 3,428 protesters, said on Monday that "all indications are that this massacre was planned and carried out with full coordination" by the country.