15-12-2022 KINSHASA: More than 120 people have been killed following the worst floods in years in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, the authorities say. Major roads in the city centre were submerged as heavy rains continued for hours and several homes collapsed. Many of those who …
Read More »Iran jails Belgian aid worker for 28 years
15-12-2022 TEHRAN/ BRUSSELS: Iran has sentenced a Belgian aid worker to 28 years in prison on unknown charges, his family has said. Olivier Vandecasteele, 41, was arrested during a brief visit to Tehran in February and accused of espionage. On Wednesday, his family said they had been informed of his …
Read More »Fear persists 10 years after Delhi gang rape & murder
15-12-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: Ten years ago the brutal gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus horrified the world and shone a spotlight on high rates of sexual violence in India. Jyoti Singh, 23, and a male friend boarded a bus on …
Read More »Australian scientists discover clitorises in female snakes
15-12-2022 Bureau Report MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that snakes do have clitorises, shattering a long-held assumption that the females didn’t have a sexual organ. Research published Wednesday provides the first proper anatomical descriptions of female snake genitalia. Snake penises, hemipenes have been studied for decades. They are forked and some …
Read More »‘67 journalists martyred, 553 imprisoned worldwide in 2022’
15-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report PARIS/ ISLAMABAD: The number of journalists imprisoned around the world has hit a new record, according to an annual tally by press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres, or RSF). A total of 533 media professionals were imprisoned in 2022, up …
Read More »Military coup fuels Myanmar resource grab
15-12-2022 NAYPYIDAW: Htu Seng has spent the past decade defending the land and environment of her native Kachin State but it was only after the military seized power in a coup in February 2021 that she began fearing for her life. Forcibly relocated from her village near the river confluence …
Read More »‘Impossible’ to track COVID spread as virus surges: China
15-12-2022 BEIJING: China’s National Health Commission has scaled down its daily COVID-19 report in response to a sharp decline in PCR testing since the government eased antivirus measures after daily cases hit record highs. A notice on the commission’s website on Wednesday said it stopped publishing daily figures on the …
Read More »‘India-China border scuffle injured troops on both sides’
14-12-2022 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI: Indian troops prevented their Chinese counterparts from entering Indian Territory on Dec. 9 during a border scuffle that led to injuries on both sides, India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, told parliament on Tuesday. The latest face-off occurred in the Tawang sector of India’s …
Read More »2 cops among 6 more dead in shooting at Australian property
14-12-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: Fight like wild and mad dogs has been started between Aussies after ethnic, religious, sectarian, social, cultural and criminals/ gang conflicts have already been become the routine in Australia just because either no-interest of Australian authorities, bureaucracy, politicians and other concerned …
Read More »G7 considers more air defence for Ukraine as fighting rages
14-12-2022 KYIV: Global economic powers pledged to beef up Kyiv’s military capabilities with a focus on air defence, as Russian missiles, artillery and drones hammered targets in Ukraine with no end in sight to Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two. The Group of Seven promised to “meet Ukraine’s urgent …
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