06-02-2023 WORCESTER/ MASSACHUSETTS: A dangerous combination of record-setting cold temperatures and powerful winds buffeted the northeastern United States on Saturday, creating life-threatening conditions and causing the death of an infant in Massachusetts. New Hampshire’s Mount Washington overnight recorded a wind chill, a measure of how the combined effect of air …
Read More »Iran’s supreme leader pardons prisoners including protesters
06-02-2023 TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader has pardoned or allowed a reduction in jail sentences for “tens of thousands” of prisoners including some arrested in recent anti-government protests. The pardons approved on Sunday by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions, according to details announced in state media reports, which said the …
Read More »Pakistani former President Pervez Musharraf dies aged 79
05-02-2023 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report DUBAI/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistani former President Pervez Musharraf has died at a hospital in Dubai after a prolonged illness, military sources confirmed to media on Sunday. He was 79. Musharraf, a four-star general, ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade after seizing power in a …
Read More »Fraud claims against Adani group spark political row in India
05-02-2023 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: A US research firm’s allegations of fraud against billionaire Gautam Adani’s Business Empire have sparked a political row in India. Opposition leaders stalled the functioning of parliament for a second straight day on Friday as they demanded an investigation into the claims. The research firm …
Read More »Pakistan blocks Wikipedia citing ‘sacrilegious’ content
05-02-2023 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has banned Wikipedia after threatening the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia over what it has labelled “sacrilegious content”, the Wikimedia Foundation announced on Saturday. Social media giants Facebook and YouTube have also been blocked in the past by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority over …
Read More »‘Generational’ Arctic blast hits Northeast US, Canada
05-02-2023 OTTAWA: A “generational” Arctic blast brought dangerously cold temperatures to swaths of the northeastern United States and Canada on Saturday, with forecasters warning that frostbite could occur in just five minutes. Atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire state, the wind-chill factor reached -78 degrees Celsius (-108 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, …
Read More »Malaysian official says Islamophobia should be criminal offence
05-02-2023 KUALA LUMPUR: A senior Malaysian official said on Friday that Islamophobia must be recognized as a crime and demanded that Muslim nations respond strongly to cases involving the desecration of the Holy Quran. “Anything that is Islamophobic can actually be regarded as something which is criminal in nature. So, …
Read More »Iran-West clash over IAEA report on Fordow nuclear plant
05-02-2023 TEHRAN: Iran and the Western parties to its 2015 nuclear deal have once more clashed over the country’s nuclear program, this time after a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the sensitive Fordow uranium enrichment site. The global nuclear watchdog said in a confidential report on …
Read More »Japan PM dismisses aide over anti-LGBTQ+ comments
05-02-2023 TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has dismissed one of his secretaries for homophobic comments that the prime minister called “outrageous”. Kishida said the remarks by Masayoshi Arai, in which he said he “doesn’t even want to look at” married same-sex couples, were “outrageous” and “incompatible” with an inclusive …
Read More »Pope meets displaced children in South Sudan
05-02-2023 JUBA: Pope Francis has met South Sudanese children displaced by conflict and heard of the hardships of their lives in camps, telling them they would build a better future for the world’s newest country by replacing ethnic hatred with forgiveness. The pope was visiting South Sudan with Archbishop of …
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