Bangladesh opens first Islamic school for transgender Muslims

2020-Bangladesh opened its first Islamic school for transgender Muslims on Friday with clerics calling it a first step towards integrating the discriminated minority into society.

Biden gains ground in White House vote count

Democrat Joe Biden edged closer to victory in the U.S. presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.

China suspends special flights from India

China on Thursday indefinitely suspended air travel from India, barring non-Chinese flyers to return to the country, following a spike in Covid-19 cases in last week’s Vande Bharat Mission (VBM).

EU demands Israel stop demolishing Palestinian homes

The EU on Thursday called on Israel to cease demolishing Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and lift a threat to demolish Palestinian schools, calling them “an impediment towards the two-state solution”.

White House race on knife edge, voting continues in key states

Americans woke up on Wednesday not knowing who the next US president would be as votes were still being counted in six key states that could swing the bitterly contested election to Republican incumbent Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden.

Top Indian news anchor arrested for alleged suicide abetment

One of India’s top TV news anchors, Arnab Goswami, was arrested by police in Mumbai on Wednesday for alleged abetment of suicide in a case registered in 2018, his channel said in a statement.

Israeli army destroys Palestinian village in Jordan Valley

Israel’s army has demolished the homes of nearly 80 Palestinian Bedouins in the occupied West Bank, officials and witnesses said Wednesday, in a rare operation targeting an entire community at once.

Delhi reporting third Covid-19 wave: CM Kejriwal

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that the national capital is reporting a “third wave” of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

India hosts key naval exercise with eye on China

India, Australia, Japan and the United States started a strategic navy drill Tuesday in the Bay of Bengal, with all four countries keeping a wary eye on China’s growing military power.

US Election Day begins as voters decide on Trump’s fate

The United States started voting Tuesday in an election amounting to a referendum on Donald Trump’s uniquely brash and bruising presidency, which Democratic opponent and frontrunner Joe Biden urged Americans to end, to restore “our democracy.” The country is more divided and angry than at any time since the Vietnam War era of the 1970s --and fears that Trump could dispute the result of the election are only fueling those tensions.

Police arrest 14 people after gunman kills four in Vienna

Austrian police arrested 14 people and searched 18 locations as part of a huge dragnet on Tuesday after a gunman killed four in a rampage in Vienna overnight.

Trump threatens to fire Dr Fauci in rift with disease expert

US President Donald Trump said he would fire Dr Anthony Fauci after Tuesday’s election, as his rift with the nation’s top infectious disease expert widens while the nation sees its most alarming outbreak of the coronavirus since the spring.

Pakistan will upgrade status of part of Kashmir

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday his government will give provisional provincial status to part of Kashmir, drawing condemnation from India, which has long objected to any such changes by Islamabad. Khan’s proposal would apply to Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan’s only land link to China, which is the northern part of the larger Kashmir region. Both Delhi and Islamabad have claimed all of Kashmir since gaining independence 73 year

English lockdown could last longer than month: Govt

A new four-week coronavirus lockdown in England will be extended, if it fails to reduce infection rates, government said Sunday, as it faced criticism over the abrupt decision to shut down again.

Quake death toll rises to 58 in Turkey

Rescue workers were searching eight wrecked buildings in Izmir Sunday amid dwindling hope for survivors as the death toll from a powerful earthquake which hit western Turkey rose to 58.

As campaign closes, Trump criticizes those fighting coronavirus

President Trump is spending the closing days of his re-election campaign criticizing public officials and medical professionals who are trying to combat the coronavirus pandemic even as it surges back across the United States.

Biden, Trump duel for Florida as White House touts GDP figures

Donald Trump and Joe Biden dueled Thursday over the crucial state of Florida, painting radically different visions of the United States as big new GDP figures showed an improving economy even as Covid-19 infections reached record highs.

New Zealanders back euthanasia; Early poll results

New Zealanders have voted overwhelmingly to legalise euthanasia in what supporters said was a victory for “choice” and “dignity”, preliminary referendum results released Friday showed.

Macron vows defiance after ‘Islamist’ knife attack in church kills three

French president Emmanuel Macron vowed his country would stand firm against religious extremists after a knife-wielding man killed three people at a church, in the country’s second attack blamed on Islamist terrorism this month.

India coronavirus cases pass eight million mark

India on Thursday passed eight million coronavirus cases, with the world’s second-worst-hit country bracing for a possible second wave ahead of winter and a series of religious festivals.

Hong Kong activist Tony Chung charged with secession

Tony Chung, 19, a teenage Hong Kong democracy activist was charged on Thursday with secession, the first public political figure to be prosecuted under a sweeping new national security law Beijing imposed on the city.

Pakistan’s Khan calls for collective Muslim action against Islamophobia

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday wrote to the leaders of Muslim countries calling on them to act together against Islamophobia, as anger grows over France’s defence of the right to mock religion.

More than 50 million have cast ballots in presidential election

More than 50 million Americans have cast ballots in the U.S. presidential election with 11 days to go in the campaign, a pace that could lead to the highest voter turnout in over a century, according to data from the U.S. Elections Project on Friday.

India changes controversial land laws in disputed Kashmir

India has amended a law in Jammu and Kashmir allowing Indian citizens to buy land in the disputed territory, said officials, sparking opposition criticism about a steady erosion of the rights of Kashmiri people.

India and US sign key defence pact as Pompeo eyes China

India and the United States signed a key military pact and agreed on boosting cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region during talks between their top foreign affairs and defence officials in New Delhi Tuesday.

Italy hit by more violent protests against coronavirus restrictions

Protests against the Italian government’s anti-coronavirus restrictions have spread across the country, with violent incidents overnight to Tuesday in Milan and Turin.

Outcry grows in Middle East over French defence of Mohammed cartoons

An outcry against France has escalated in the Middle East over cartoons of Islam’s prophet Mohammed, deemed offensive by many Muslim countries.

China reports surge of asymptomatic coronavirus cases in Xinjiang

China reported the highest number of asymptomatic novel coronavirus infections in nearly seven months on Monday following the discovery of a cluster of cases linked to a garment factory in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Russian strikes kill 56 rebels in north-western Syria

At least 56 Turkish-backed rebels were killed on Monday after Russian planes targeted their military training camp in north-western Syria with airstrikes, according to a monitoring group. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the camp belonged to Faylaq al-Sham, an alliance of Sunni Islamist rebel groups that is aligned with Turkey.

Iran reports Covid-19 death every four minutes

Iran extended COVID-19 curbs in Tehran and across the country on Monday as health authorities said they were recording a death from the virus every four minutes.