Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discussed Egypt-India ties as well as issues related to promoting social harmony and countering extremism and radicalisation with the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr Shawky Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam.

On his first state visit to Egypt, the Prime Minister apprised the Grand Mufti that India would set up a Centre of Excellence in IT at the Dar-al-Ifta - an Egyptian advisory body for Islamic legal research - under the Ministry of Social Justice of Egypt.

The Grand Mufti also appreciated the Prime Minister's leadership in fostering inclusivity and pluralism.

The Grand Mufti fondly recalled his recent visit to India and highlighted the strong cultural and people-to-people relations between India and Egypt.

In 2013, Dr Allam became the first elected Grand Mufti of Egypt.

He holds the office of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide - an umbrella organisation that was created to coordinate among more than 100 fatwa authorities globally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Jun 25  conferred with the 'Order of the Nile', Egypt's highest honour, by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi .

Instituted in 1915, the 'Order of the Nile' is conferred upon heads of states, crown princes, and vice presidents who offer Egypt or humanity invaluable services.

This is the 13th highest state honour conferred upon Prime Minister Modi.

The 'Order of the Nile' is a pure gold collar consisting of three-square gold units comprising Pharaonic symbols.

The first unit resembles the idea of protecting the state against evils, the second one resembles prosperity and happiness brought by the Nile and the third one refers to wealth and endurance.

The three units are connected to one another by a circular gold flower decorated with turquoise and ruby.

Hanging from the collar is a hexagonal pendant decorated with flowers of the Pharaonic style, and turquoise and ruby gems.

In the middle of the pendant, there is a protruding symbol representing the Nile that brings together the North (represented by the Papyrus) and the South (represented by the Lotus).

Over the past nine years, the Prime Minister has been conferred the Companion of the Order of Logohu, the highest civilian award of Papua New Guinea; the Companion of the Order of Fiji; the Ebakl Award by the Republic of Palau; the Order of the Druk Gyalp, the highest civilian decoration by Bhutan.

Modi has also been conferred with the Legion of Merit by the US Government; the King Hamad Order of the Renaissance by Bahrain; the Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddin, the highest honour of the Maldives; the Order of St.

Andrew award, the highest civilian honour of Russia.

Modi has also received the Order of Zayed Award, the highest civilian honour of the United Arab Emirates; the Grand Collar of the State of Palestine Award, the highest honour of Palestine; the State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan, the highest civilian honour of Afghanistan and the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud, the highest honour of Saudi Arabia awarded to non-Muslim dignitaries.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said that it’s conducting an investigation into the loss of the Titan submersible and has been speaking with those who travelled on Titan’s mothership, the Polar Prince.

The development comes as authorities from the U.S. and Canada began the process of probing the cause of the underwater implosion and grappled with questions of who was responsible for determining how the tragedy unfolded.

Maritime agencies are searching the area in the North Atlantic where the vessel was destroyed, killing all five people aboard. Debris was located about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) underwater, several hundred feet away from the Titanic wreckage it was on its way to explore.

The Polar Prince left Newfoundland on June 16, towing the ill-fated Titan. There were 41 people on board — 17 crew members and 24 others — including the five who died when Titan imploded.

The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will leave Russia and won't face charges after calling off his troops' advance on Jun 24 ,  Moscow said, easing Russia's most serious security crisis in decades.

The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia's military brass came to a violent head in the past day, with his forces capturing a key army headquarters in southern Russia and then heading north to threaten the capital.

Within hours of Prigozhin's about-face, the Kremlin announced he would leave for Belarus and Russia would not prosecute either him or the group's members.

H. Lee Sarokin, the federal judge who freed boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and in a landmark case famously said tobacco companies engaged in a “vast” conspiracy to conceal the dangers of smoking, has died in California. He was 94.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Indian diaspora at the Ronald Reagan Center and expressed happiness over the American government's decision to return more than 100 stolen antiquities back to India.

In a bid to rejuvenate India's cultural and spiritual heritage, the Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is bringing back antiquities and artefacts from across the world.

On numerous foreign visits, Prime Minister discussed the matter with global leaders and multilateral institutions and a total of 251 antiquities have been brought back to India, out of which 238 were brought back since 2014.

In 2022 also the US authorities returned 307 antiquities that were stolen by multiple smaller trafficking networks to India, valued at nearly 4 million USD.

More than 280 Pakistani families fear they had relatives who drowned when a migrant boat sank off Greece last week, making it one of Pakistan's worst man-made disasters.

The rusty trawler packed with travellers capsized in the Ionian Sea on June 14 after setting sail from Libya towards Europe on the world's deadliest migrant route.

The death toll stands at 82, with 104 survivors pulled from the water, but witness accounts suggest many hundreds more went down with the ship, with their remains still missing at sea.

Pakistan is in the grip of a staggering economic downturn that saps families' purses and spurs illegal migration, mostly by young men who hope to get a financial foothold in Europe and send cash home.

The routes they take vary greatly. Some pay for legal transport to North Africa and take their chances from there, voyaging onwards by sea. Others attempt to go overland through Iran and Turkey.

Dodging border guards and police and moving through different jurisdictions with limited funds means that communication with families is often patchy, making it difficult to determine their exact movements.

Tony- and Grammy Award-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who with composer Jerry Bock made up the premier musical-theatre songwriting duos of the 1950s and 1960s with shows such as "Fiddler on the Roof," "Fiorello!" and "The Apple Tree," has died. He was 99.