World news

No houses on rent for Indians in Singapore

Many online home rental websites in Singapore include the words "No Indians, no People's Republic of China (PRC)", which is sometimes followed by the word "sorry", leading to increasing rental discrimination in the city. The issue appears more common with less expensive properties and on sites

13 killed as ferry capsizes in Bangladesh storm

The death toll in the ferry capsize in the Golachipa river in Bangladesh rose to 13 on Sunday with the recovery of five more bodies, police said. “Divers pulled out five bodies from the river in the morning,” Officer-in-charge of Golachipa police station Fakhruddin was quoted as saying by the Dai

More than 2,100 dead in Afghanistan landslide

KABUL: Afghanistan officials gave up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, putting the death toll at more than 2,100, as the aid effort focused on the more than 4,000 people displaced. Officials expressed concern the unstable hillside above the site o

Egypt court jails 102 Morsi supporters for 10 years: Report

CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced 102 supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to 10 years in prison on Saturday over protest violence, state television reported. The army-installed government has rounded up thousands of Morsi supporters and put them on mass trials since overthrowin

Ukraine offensive sparks deadly clashes in Odessa, 31 killed

SLOVYANSK (Ukraine): Ukraine's offensive to recapture an eastern city controlled by pro-Russia forces sharply escalated the crisis in the country's east and set off a clash Friday in the southern port of Odessa that police say killed 31 people. The Kremlin said the move by Kiev's interim governme

Hundreds rescued from floodwaters in US

Pensacola Beach, Florida: People were plucked off rooftops or climbed into their attics to get away from fast-rising waters when nearly 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain fell on the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast in the span of about 24 hours, the latest bout of severe weather that began with tornado

Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs are targets of violence: Obama

Washington: US President Barack Obama has acknowledged that even today a number of people from the South Asian origin — particularly those from Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities — are becoming victims of hate crimes in America. “Even today, South Asian Americans, especially those who are Muslim,

Iraqis brave threat of violence to cast ballots

BAGHDAD: Unshaken by the latest surge in violence, Iraqis braved the threat of bombs and attacks to vote on Wednesday in key elections for a new parliament amid a massive security operation as the country slides deeper into sectarian strife. Hundreds of thousands of troops and police fanned out t

Trains collide head-on in Sri Lanka; 68 injured

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: Two trains have collided head-on in northwestern Sri Lanka, injuring 68 people. Police spokesman Ajith Rohana says the crash took place on Wednesday at the railroad station in Pothuhera, about 90 kilometres (56 miles) northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital. He says a tra

Attacks hit Syria’s 2 major cities, kill 50 people

DAMASCUS, Syria: Two car bombs exploded in a pro-government neighborhood in the central Syrian city of Homs Tuesday, killing at least 36 people just hours after one of the deadliest mortar strikes in the heart of the capital, Damascus, killed 14, officials and state media said. The attacks came a

Egyptian court passes death sentence on Brotherhood leader, 682 supporters

(Reuters) - An Egyptian court sentenced the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters to death on Monday, intensifying a crackdown on the movement that could trigger protests and political violence ahead of an election next month. In another case signaling growing intolerance o

Canada: Selfless Muslim Man Gives Barefoot Bus Passenger His Shoes

Touching photographs of a stranger’s act of kindness towards a needy man have gone viral. The images were taken by off-duty bus driver Surjit Singh Virk in British Colombia, Canada. Virk had noticed a man on the same bus as him wearing plastic hairnets on his feet in lieu of shoes on a rainy S

U.N. says rape persists in Syrian conflict

Rape and sexual violence has been a “persistent feature” of the three-year Syrian civil war, a U.N. report has claiming, citing information from civilians who have fled the country. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s report named 21 conflict-wracked countries, including Libya, Somalia, Sudan an

Drunk passenger sparks hijack scare on Virgin Australia plane

Jakarta:  A drunk passenger allegedly tried to get into the cockpit and sparked a hijack scare on a Virgin Australia plane that landed at Bali airport on Friday. "This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication," said Heru Sudjatmiko, a Virgin Australia official on the Indonesian resort island.

Russia orders exercises after Ukraine moves on separatists

Russia has ordered new military exercises on its border with Ukraine in response to an operation by Kiev against pro-Russian separatists. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow had been "forced to react" after Ukrainian commandos moved on the separatist stronghold of Sloviansk. Presi

Scientists find an 'Earth twin', or maybe a cousin

It is a bit bigger and somewhat colder, but a planet circling a star 500 light-years away is otherwise the closest match of our home world discovered so far, astronomers announced on Thursday. The planet, known as Kepler 186f, named after NASA's Kepler planet-finding mission, which detected it, h

UN Security Council meets to discuss Ukraine

United Nations:  The U.N. Security Council is holding an emergency meeting at Russia's request amid growing violence in eastern Ukraine. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin says he is alarmed by Ukraine's announcement that it would deploy armed forces to quash an increasingly bold pro-Russian insur

Bomb kills 15, wounds 35 in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: A bomb explosion Wednesday killed at least 15 people and wounded 35 others in Islamabad's bustling fruit and vegetable market, police and hospital officials said. The blast took place in the busy morning hours when dozen of people, mostly grocers and sellers, gather at the market. "