World

Mexico, Sept 12: A powerful earthquake that struck Mexico last week has left some 2.5 million people in need of aid and killed 96 others, authorities said on Monday, as officials rushed to get food and water to afflicted communities in the poor south. Oaxaca state Governor Alejandro Murat told local television the death toll in his state had risen to 76. He said preliminary reports showed that at

Singapore, Sep 11: There are no Muslim Malays in the top echelons of Singapore’s army, and few among the senior ranks of its judiciary, but a member of its poorest ethnic minority is set to become the first woman President of the Southeast Asian city state this week. Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of Parliament, will be formally named to the mostly ceremonial post on Wednesday, media reported

New Delhi, Sep 11: The Dalai Lama has spoken out for the first time about the Rohingya refugee crisis, saying Buddha would have helped Muslims fleeing violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in recent weeks after violence flared in neighbouring Myanmar, where the stateless Muslim minority has endured decades of persecution. The top

Sydney, Sep 11: India has lodged an official complaint over an Australian advertisement that features the Hindu god Ganesha and other religious icons endorsing lamb. In the TV commercial from industry group Meat and Livestock Australia, a number of religious figures -- including Lord Ganesha, Jesus, Buddha and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard -- are seen sitting down together to a lamb-based

Geneva, Sep 11: The UN human rights chief said today that the violence and injustice faced by the ethnic Rohingya minority in Myanmar, where UN rights investigators have been barred from entering, "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Speaking at the start of UN Human Rights Council session, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein first recognised the September 11 attacks anniversary then chronicled human

Florida, Sept 11: Hurricane Irma is giving Florida a coast-to-coast pummeling with winds up to 210km/h, swamping homes and boats, knocking out power to millions and toppling massive construction cranes. The 640-kilometre-wide storm blew ashore Sunday morning in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane before eventually weakening to a Category 2 storm as it moved up the coast

A humanitarian crisis of near genocidal proportions is taking place in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, yet the world’s reaction is confined to mere condemnation instead of sanctions or direct intervention. Although international journalists are not allowed to visit the troubled province that has for the past five years been witnessing state-sponsored terror against the hapless Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic

Washington, Sep 10: About 60 Indian nationals are being evacuated from the vacation island of St Martin in the Caribbean, which has been devastated by Hurricane Irma, an extremely powerful storm that wreaked havoc in the region. Most of the Indian nationals have a transit visa, a temporary short period visa, to the US. For those who do not have a transit visa, Indian Embassy here is working with

Damascus, Sep 10: The Syrian Army captured a key oil field of Teym from the Islamic State (IS) in the countryside of Deir al-Zour province. According to reports, the Army has progressively covered over the past 24 hours in reaching Deir al-Zour city from its main desert road. Earlier this week, the Syrian Army and allied troops lifted the three-year-old siege by the IS of Deir al-Zour city through

Miami, Sep 9: Store owners boarded up their windows and families sandbagged their homes to join a mass exodus as Hurricane Irma churned toward Florida after cutting a deadly swath through the Caribbean. After killing at least 19 people and devastating thousands of homes on a string of Caribbean islands, Irma made landfall in Cuba's Camaguey Archipelago as a maximum-strength Category Five storm. It