Russian lawmakers vote to leave Open Skies pact

Russia’s lower house of parliament yesterday voted to leave the Open Skies security agreement, another step in dissolving the Cold War-era pact that the US left last year.
19 May 2021, 18:00 PM

EU to reopen bloc’s borders

EU member states yesterday agreed to reopen the bloc’s borders to travellers who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, European sources said.
19 May 2021, 18:00 PM

‘Slavery’ found at a Malaysian glove factory. Why didn’t the auditor see it?

In December 2020, with coronavirus infections spreading rapidly across factories and workers’ dormitories in Malaysia, officials raided latex glove maker Brightway Holdings near Kuala Lumpur. They said they found workers living in shipping containers, under conditions so squalid that human resources minister M. Saravanan later likened them to “modern slavery.”
19 May 2021, 15:00 PM

Radio Free Europe sues Russia at European court over 'foreign agent' action

US broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) filed a legal case at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday to challenge the "foreign agent" label imposed on it by Russian authorities.
19 May 2021, 13:19 PM

Fears for supplies in Myanmar as exodus grows from fighting

People displaced by an upsurge of fighting in Myanmar’s Chin State voiced concerns over shelter and supplies as more flee the conflict that has sprung up between the army and insurgents opposed to the junta that seized power in February.
19 May 2021, 12:07 PM

Israel says it has no ‘timeframe’ for ending strikes in Gaza

Israel today said it was not setting a timeframe for an end to hostilities with Gaza as its military pounded the Palestinian enclave with air strikes and Hamas unleashed new cross-border rocket attacks.
19 May 2021, 12:04 PM

Mamata made party of CBI’s petition seeking transfer of Narada case

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been made a party in a petition by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the Calcutta High Court, seeking transfer of the Narada sting operation case filed on charge of graft by two senior TMC ministers and a key leader of the party.
19 May 2021, 10:38 AM

Gaza children bearing the brunt of Israeli airstrikes

Suzy Ishkontana hardly speaks or eats. It's been two days since the 7-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble of what was once her family's home, destroyed amid a barrage of Israeli airstrikes. She spent hours buried in the wreckage as her siblings and mother died around her.
19 May 2021, 08:39 AM

Cyclone 'Yaas' forming in Bay of Bengal, may hit by May 27

Cyclone “Yaas” forming over the Bay of Bengal may hit India’s east coast around May 27.
19 May 2021, 07:40 AM

Pandemic mask mountain sets new recycling challenge

Researchers in Australia want to transform single-use Covid masks into road material. In the United States, the protective gear is recycled into benches. And in France, they are reborn as floor carpets for cars.
19 May 2021, 07:27 AM

Indian navy searches for 78 missing from barge sunk by storm

Indian navy ships and helicopters searched in extreme weather and rough seas Wednesday for 78 people still missing from a barge that sank off Mumbai as a deadly cyclone blew ashore this week.
19 May 2021, 05:46 AM

How Myanmar's military moved in on the telecoms sector to spy on citizens

In the months before the Myanmar military's February 1 coup, the country's telecom and internet service providers were ordered to install intercept spyware that would allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens, sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters.
19 May 2021, 03:14 AM

More than 15,000 people from Myanmar seek shelter in Indian border state: official

The number of people from Myanmar seeking shelter in India has swelled to more than 15,000, with more likely to cross over as fighting intensifies in parts Myanmar following a coup, an Indian government official said on Tuesday.
19 May 2021, 02:25 AM

World must scrap all new fossil fuel projects: IEA

All future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to stand any chance of limiting warming to 1.5C, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM

RSF launches ‘trust’ certification for media

France-based NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) launched its “Journalism Trust Initiative” yesterday, a platform aimed at battling disinformation by identifying and promoting “trustworthy” news sources.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM

Myanmar anti-coup protest death toll crosses 800

More than 800 people have been killed by Myanmar’s security forces since a wave of protests broke out across the country after the military seized power in a coup in February, an activist group said.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM

Brazil deforestation 94pc illegal

The vast majority of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is illegal, and President Jair Bolsonaro’s promise to eliminate it looks doubtful given a lack of transparency on authorized land use, researchers said Monday.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM

At least 27 killed, dozens still missing

At least 27 people were dead and almost 100 missing yesterday after a monster cyclone slammed India, compounding the country’s woes as it recorded a new record number of coronavirus deaths in 24 hours.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM

Global network of editors, journalists condemns attack

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, has vehemently condemned the Saturday attack on the building housing the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera Network in Gaza by the Israeli defence forces.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM

Twenty firms produce 55pc of world’s plastic waste

Twenty companies are responsible for producing more than half of all the single-use plastic waste in the world, fuelling the climate crisis and creating an environmental catastrophe, new research reveals.
18 May 2021, 18:00 PM