• Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree banning the procurement of foreign-made clothing and related gear for the country’s armed forces starting in 2026.

According to the decree, from Jan. 1, 2026, all uniforms and other clothing items for the Russian Armed Forces must be produced by Russian companies whose manufacturing facilities are located within the country.

By 2027, the requirement would extend to fabrics and knitted materials used in production, which must be domestically manufactured.

The measure aims to entirely exclude the purchase of foreign-made clothing and materials for the needs of the military, the decree said.

Military clothing and gear include uniforms, insignia, underwear, bedding, special clothing, footwear, equipment, and sanitary items.Such supplies are procured through the Russian state defence order system.

(Xinhua/ NAN)

A train derailed in the southern Iranian province of Kerman on Friday, injuring more than two dozen people though no deaths were reported, according to local media.

“Thirty people were injured when a train derailed on the Kerman-Zarand railway path,” Babak Mahmoudi, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, told the Mehr news agency.

A statement from the public relations office of the national railway body carried by the Tasnim news agency reported that after “the timely arrival of railway technical personnel and rescue forces, all passengers safely exited the train”.

Train derailments are not uncommon in Iran, and while they do not generally result in deaths, there have been fatal disasters in the past.

In June 2022, 21 people were killed and dozens were injured when a train derailed near the central Iranian city of Tabas after hitting an excavator beside the track.

In 2016, two trains collided and caught fire in northern Iran, killing 44 people and injuring scores.

AFP

•Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

U.K. and India’s bilateral trade is set to get a more than $34 billion annual boost over the long term following their free trade agreement, with the countries’ leaders calling it a “historic” deal.

CNBC reported that the FTA, which slashes duties on goods including textiles, alcohol and automobiles, was signed on Thursday in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer.

Both sides had finalized the trade pact in May after three years of intense negotiations — marked by thorny issues such as visas, tariff reduction and tax breaks.

Talks gained momentum and both governments accelerated to seal the deal as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats sent the world in disarray.

The agreement between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies is expected to boost their bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds per year by 2040.

Trade in goods and services stood at over 40 billion pounds in 2024.

The deal offers “huge benefits to both of our countries,” boosting wages, raising living standards and bringing down prices for consumers, Starmer said.

India’s Modi lauded the agreement as “a blueprint for our shared prosperity,” highlighting how Indian goods including textiles, jewelry, agricultural products and engineering items would benefit from a better access to the U.K. market.