BenArmani

Authorities yesterday reimposed some restrictions in parts of Kashmir ahead of Eid al-Adha, amid fears that large gatherings could trigger renewed protests against Delhi’s withdrawal of special rights for the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government locked down the Muslim-majority region last Sunday, cutting off communications, detaining more than 300 political leaders and activists, and putting a ‘virtual curfew’ into...

The death toll from floods in Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra rose to 147, state authorities said yesterday, as rescue teams raced to evacuate people and waters submerged parts of a world heritage site. Heavy rain and landslides forced hundreds of thousands of people to take shelter in relief camps, while train services were cancelled in several flood-hit areas. In Kerala, at...

In the heat of the summer, Sivan Noel and her sister Michal say they rarely venture outside of their family’s small, basement apartment in Tel Aviv. The two girls, 11 and nine, risk being deported to the family’s home country, the Philippines, even though they’ve never set foot there. “I was born here,” said Sivan, the 11-year-old.  “It’s really unfair...

President Rodrigo Duterte prodded “corrupt” officials and personnel of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) to leave or they will “lose everything.” In his speech during the 118th Police Service anniversary celebration at Camp Crame in Quezon City, Duterte vented his ire again on 64 corrupt officials and personnel of the BoC. “Sa (In) Customs, they will lose 64 of them. They...

Tanzania was in mourning yesterday, as the East African nation prepared to bury 69 people who perished when a crashed fuel tanker exploded as crowds rushed to syphon off leaking petrol. The deadly blast, which took place on Saturday near the town of Morogoro, west of the economic capital Dar es Salaam, is the latest in a series of similar...

Democratic presidential contenders Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker slammed US President Donald Trump yesterday for promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about the apparent suicide of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in his New York jail cell. After the death on Saturday of Epstein, who had been charged with sex trafficking and who once counted Trump and former president Bill Clinton as friends,...

Hong Kong police and protesters clashed in cat-and-mouse encounters across the city yesterday, marking a shift in tactics during a tenth straight weekend of unrest in the former British colony where many are chafing at Chinese rule. Seeking to clear streets quicker than before, police fired tear gas and charged with batons at flashpoints from big shopping boulevards to bar-lined...

A shooting at a mosque in Norway is being treated as an “attempted act of terrorism”, police said yesterday, citing that the suspect has expressed extremist views. The suspect, a Norwegian in his early 20s, was arrested in connection with Saturday’s incident at the Al-Noor Islamic Centre mosque in Baerum, west of Oslo. He has been charged with attempted murder in...

Guatemalans yesterday began voting for a new president who will face a major challenge after the country agreed with Washington to act as a buffer against illegal immigration under pressure from US President Donald Trump. Threatened with economic sanctions if it said no, the outgoing government signed an agreement in July to make Guatemala a so-called safe third country for...

Awareness sessions and a cultural and arts fete Sunday marked the 'Mega Eid Al Adha Cultural Celebration for Expat Communities' programme by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) at Asian Town and Asian Accommodation City (Labour City) in Doha Industrial Area. Thousands of expatriates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka attended the programmes, held at the two locations. MoI organised...

Gunman carrying multiple weapons was overpowered by members of the mosque before police arrived, witness says. A gunman armed with multiple weapons has opened fire in a mosque near the Norwegian capital, Oslo, wounding one person before being overpowered by worshippers, police and witnesses said. The suspected shooter at the al-Noor Islamic Centre in the Baerum district was "a young white...

Nearly 50,000 people attended protest demanding free city council vote, says monitoring group. Tens of thousands of people demanding free elections have rallied in Russia's capital, Moscow, in one of the country's biggest political protests in recent years. Protesters gathered on Saturday at the central Prospekt Andreya Sakharova street for their fourth consecutive weekend demonstration over the exclusion of opposition and independent candidates from...

The question is whether the US president be able to get past the powerful gun lobby led by the NRA to make it happen. US President Donald Trump has called for "very meaningful background checks" for gun buyers and said he can sway the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) towards more stringent controls. Trump's remarks on Friday came a week after emotional vigils...

White House calls on social media companies to help build technologies to 'combat domestic terrorism'. The White House has called on social media companies to build technologies that could help curb the spread of violent ideologies online. The appeal was made during a meeting between officials from the White House and big social media companies on Friday. The gathering came days after Donald...