Thousands of young protesters were camped on the streets of India's capital New Delhi on Thursday, defying new restrictions in the latest show of strength for a movement that has become one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

India's "Cockroach" protests began more than a month ago over alleged leaks in some of the country's most competitive entrance exams for medical colleges and government jobs. The movement has since expanded beyond exam grievances, drawing professionals and families while channeling broader frustration.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in the Philippines for talks where he was expected to renew the prospect of the U.S. trying to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. State Department offered few details about the meeting on the sidelines of an annual gathering by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila. "They discussed the U.S.-Russia relationship and the need to end the Russia-Ukraine war," a State Department spokesperson said.

Iran again denied the existence of any secret nuclear complex at Kolang mountain on Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strike the site in the center of the country.

A French modelling scout with close ties to the late U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home outside Paris, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Crowds of supporters of India's online "cockroach" movement grew on Wednesday at a New Delhi protest site, with their campaign for accountability and reform following examination scandals getting a boost inside parliament from opposition lawmakers.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he will meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Manila on Thursday for talks set to focus on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

German authorities said Wednesday they were giving the green light to a controversial French-Russian nuclear project which critics fear will enable spying and sabotage by Moscow.

Iran and U.S. forces traded new military attacks, with Tehran warning of "more decisive and powerful" strikes ahead as the conflict threatened to widen with a blockade of Saudi ports by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Fresh U.S. strikes triggered air defenses in Tehran on Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned he was "not finished" with a war with Iran that has already cost his nation $37.5 billion.

After the foes' fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz led to the collapse of a preliminary deal, the Middle East war has expanded to include the region's other key chokepoint for global oil supplies.

A suspected gas explosion on Monday triggered a collapse inside a tunnel that was under construction at a hydropower project in India's northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, leaving at least 11 people dead and 14 missing, officials said on Tuesday.

State Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, who visited the disaster site near the Chinese border, said the explosion was triggered by a build-up of methane gas.