Raj Shah, the first Indian American to take the lectern in the White House media room as spokesperson, has left to join a lobbying firm, after months of speculation about his impending departure. “I’m excited to join Brian, Jamie and the top-notch team to launch Ballard Media Group,” Shah said in

SYDNEY: Australian towns were among the hottest places on Earth this week as a severe heatwave hit the continent's southeast, with forecasters warning of more record-breaking temperatures before the weekend. The past four days were among the country's top 10 warmest on record, with temperatures n

DALIAN: A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death on drug trafficking charges on Monday after his previous 15-year prison sentence was deemed too lenient, a ruling that has deepened a diplomatic rift between Ottawa and Beijing. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, nodded as the judge in the nor

China on Monday firmly opposed transferring technology to Taiwan to make submarines, saying countries which have relations with Beijing should earnestly abide by the one China principle and stop any form of military links with Taipei. Taiwan media last year reported that the US State Department h

WASHINGTON: An American traveller boarded a flight from the US to Japan carrying a gun which was undetected in airport security check, according to an official statement. The US' Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in the statement on Saturday: "TSA has determined standard procedure

A decades-old Iranian Boeing 707 military cargo plane reportedly carrying meat from Kyrgyzstan crashed on Monday while trying to land west of Iran’s capital, killing 15 people on board and leaving a sole survivor, authorities said. The crash of the jetliner marked just the latest aviation disaste

Beijing: Nineteen people were killed while two remain trapped underground after a roof collapse at a coal mine in northern China, state media reported. A total of 87 people were working underground in the Shaanxi province mine at the time of the accident on Saturday afternoon, official news agency X

New Delhi: On Facebook, Anika Chopra claims to be an Army Captain of the Military Nursing Corps. In her profile picture, she is seen wearing a green saree and a pretty smile. That smile has now landed 50 jawans under the scanner of intelligence agencies. One jawan has even been arrested. The sequ

New Delhi rejected the allegations levelled by a senior Pakistan police official against India in connection with the November 2018 terrorist attack on the Chinese Consulate in Karachi. “We have seen statements in Pakistani media attributed to the Police chief of Karachi making false allegations

Three firefighters investigating a suspected gas leak were among 12 people critically injured after a massive explosion in Paris on Saturday. At least 24 other people were hurt in the blast, in the 9th arrondissement in the north of the capital, which seriously damaged several buildings and shatt

Kabul: Officials say a wave of Taliban attacks in western and northern Afghanistan the previous day has killed 21 members of the country's security forces. Jamshed Shahabi, spokesman for the governor in western Badghis province, says the insurgents overran outposts there, killing six policemen. C

President Donald Trump has again threatened to declare a national emergency along the border with Mexico as he seeks funding for a wall he says will keep out dangerous immigrants -- his latest jab in a fight with Democrats in Congress that has now shut down parts of the government for a record-tying

Dhaka: A 35-year-old Bangladeshi man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for circulating photo-shopped images of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other politicians, including former Indian premier Manmohan Singh, amid criticism that her government is using tough internet laws to silence diss

Russia on Wednesday said there will be no delays in the delivery of the S-400 air defence systems to India and a payment mechanism for the deal is being worked out. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the missile systems will significantly enhance India’s air defence capability.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump, escalating the battle over his border wall plan in a televised Oval Office address to the nation, referred to the murder of an Indian-American police officer in California by an illegal immigrant as he demanded $5.7 billion to fund the wall on the border with M

The cost of obtaining a UK visa will increase for Indian and non-EU citizens from January 8 as part of the plan to raise the immigration health surcharge (IHS). The IHS is paid when students, professionals and family members apply for a visa. The surcharge, introduced in 2015, allows migrants

Washington: World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has abruptly resigned nearly three years ahead of schedule to join a private infrastructure investment firm, setting up a potential clash between the US and other member countries over selecting the head of the world's largest development-finance institu

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was considering declaring a national emergency to find funding for the border wall after a White House meeting with Democrats that both sides described as contentious. The President also told Democrats the partial shutdown of the federal government caus