Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 15 (IANS) The Congress-led ruling UDF, after heated discussions Monday, finally gave the nod for ‘practical changes’ to the liquor policy announced in August. Since the new liquor policy aiming at total prohibition was announced, numerous organisations have opposed it but Congress president V.M. Sudheeran was unyielding. However, Monday Sudheeran found himself alone […]
okyo Dec 14 (IANS) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its partner Komeito Party were confirmed to have secured 246 seats in the 475-seat lower legislative chamber, according to local reports Sunday. Voting for Japan’s House of Representatives (the lower house) started at 7 a.m. Sunday at over 48,000 polling stations […]
Kabul, Dec 13 (IANS) Taliban militants attacked and killed 12 deminers and injured 12 others in the Shurab area of southern Helmand province on Saturday, police spokesman Farid Ahmad Abid said. “A group of deminers were busy sweeping mines and unexploded ordnance in the Shurab area today when the Taliban rebels attacked them at noon […]
Damascus, Dec 13 (IANS) The son of an ex-commander of the rebels’ Free Syrian Army (FSA) was killed by Syrian troops in the country’s northern province of Aleppo, media reported Saturday. Muhammad al-Asaad, the son of Riad al-Asaad, was killed by Syrian troops in Aleppo, Xinhua reported citing the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV, but giving no […]
Baghdad, Dec 13 (IANS) At least 160,000 Iraqi Christians have been forced out of their homes in the city of Mosul after the Islamic State (IS) radical group terrorists seized Iraq’s second largest city in June, a Christian lawmaker says. “Christian families have been displaced from the city because of violence and death threats from […]
Vancouver, Dec 12 (IANS) A court in the Canadian province of British Columbia Friday set aside the conviction of an Indo-Canadian man in a sexual assault case. The sexual assault conviction had led to the imprisonment and deportation of Gurdev Singh Dhillon, which the Crown later admitted was a “miscarriage of justice”. However, the British […]
Kiev, Dec 12 (IANS/EFE) Ukraine confirmed Friday the cessation of hostilities between its troops and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country, as a new truce accord reached earlier this week entered into force. A spokesman for the Ukraine Security Council, Andriy Lysenko, said the ceasefire was taking hold gradually and mutually in […]
Beijing, Dec 12 (IANS) China’s central government Friday said it supports the Hong Kong government and the police’s decision to clear the Occupy protest sites and roads. The central government “fully agrees with and firmly supports” the Hong Kong government and the police’s decision to stop these illegal activities, thereby maintaining social order and safeguarding […]
Baghdad, Dec 12 (IANS) The holy city of Karbala in Iraq is expected to host 20 million pilgrims for the Arba’een ceremony, Iraqi officials have said. Black-clad pilgrims were walking towards Karbala, where they would take part in the mourning ceremonies around Imam Hossein’s shrine, Press TV reported. According to Iraqi authorities, some 17 million […]
Rome, Dec 12 (IANS/EFE) Pope Francis I and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the XIV Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, Friday expressed their hopes for achieving world peace and encouraged humanity to resolve its conflicts through a vision of global brotherhood. At Friday’s opening ceremony of the XIV World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, Pope […]