29-04-2024 BERLIN: Six suspected spies have been arrested in Germany this month alone, in what has become a torrent of allegations of Russian and Chinese espionage. For the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party it has proved especially embarrassing, because their top two candidates for the European elections in June …
Read More »Iraq criminalizes same-sex relationships in new law
29-04-2024 BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament has passed a bill criminalizing same-sex relationships with jail terms of between 10 and 15 years. Transgender people could also be sent to prison for between one and three years under the new law. Supporters of the changes say they will help to uphold religious values …
Read More »Video shows American & Israeli hostages alive in Gaza
29-04-2024 GAZA CITY/ CAIRO: Hamas has published a video showing the first proof of life of two more hostages being held in Gaza. In undated footage filmed under duress, Omri Miran says he has been held for 202 days and Keith Siegel mentions this week’s Passover holiday, indicating the clips …
Read More »India seizes Pak boat with heavy quantity of narcotics
28-04-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ PORBANDAR: The Indian Coast Guard today intercepted a suspicious Pakistani boat that had nearly 86 kg of drugs worth millions of rupees. Acting on intelligence, the Coast Guard along with the Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), launched a crackdown …
Read More »President of Columbia University faces vote of confidence
28-04-2024 NEW YORK: Columbia University’s embattled president came under renewed pressure on Friday as a campus oversight panel sharply criticized her administration for clamping down on a pro-Palestinian protest at the Ivy League school. President Nemat Minouche Shafik has faced an outcry from many students, faculty and outside observers for …
Read More »UK forces may be deployed to help deliver Gaza aid
28-04-2024 LONDON: British troops could be deployed on the ground in Gaza to help deliver aid via a new sea route, the media has learned. The US has said no American forces would go ashore and an unnamed “third party” would drive trucks along a floating causeway onto the beach. …
Read More »Indian Election’s 2nd phase ends with weeks of voting ahead
28-04-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: The second round of voting in India’s election is due to have closed, and attention now turns to the third round scheduled for May 7. There will be seven phases in all. Friday’s vote covered 166 million voters in 88 constituencies across 13 …
Read More »Israeli strike kills Lebanese militants in Beqaa area
28-04-2024 JERUSALEM: An Israeli strike in Lebanon’s Beqaa region has killed two members of a Lebanese militant group that has fired rockets across the southern border at Israel, the group said on Friday. Israel’s military said in a statement on Friday that its air force “struck and eliminated Mosab Khalaf …
Read More »India election sees turnout fall in second phase
28-04-2024 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU/ MATHURA: India held the second phase of the world’s biggest election on Friday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rivals hurling accusations of religious discrimination and threats to democracy amid flagging voter turnout. Almost one billion people are eligible to vote …
Read More »British Columbia to back off drug decriminalization project
28-04-2024 VICTORIA: A Canadian province will recriminalize the use of hard drugs in public, partly rolling back a landmark policy meant to help tackle a deadly opioid crisis. British Columbia’s (BC) decriminalization project began in January 2023 as a three-year pilot program but it has faced pushback over concerns around …
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