Patricia Gossman After years of ignominy as one of the worst countries in Asia for media freedom, the Maldives has risen to 72nd place in the latest rankings of the World Press Freedom Index, up from 120th place three years ago. That improvement reflects how far
Six of the ten largest United Nations-led peace operations in 2020 were located in countries that are the most exposed to climate change. Both UN peacekeeping operations and special political missions are increasingly mandated by the UN Security Council to consider and respond to climate-related
The Hague: The global chemical weapons watchdog stripped Syria of its voting rights in an unprecedented punishment for poison gas attacks on civilians. A majority of member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) backed the rebuke after a probe found Damascus
Washington: The United States imposed fresh Myanmar-related sanctions, targeting two state-owned enterprises in the latest in a series of punitive actions following the country’s military coup as Washington said it would take further action. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it blacklisted Myanmar Timber
New Delhi: Renowned Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist Maulana Wahiduddin Khan breathed his last on Wednesday evening, foreign media reports. The publication reported that the religious scholar had contracted coronavirus, last week, and was being treated at the Apollo Hospital Sarita Vihar in the Indian
Amritsar: In a bizarre turn of events, India's Border Security Force (BSF) has requested the Khangarh Police Station SHO in Amritsar to register a first information report (FIR) against a pigeon found near the border with Pakistan which was carrying a paper with a Pakistani
California: Prince Harry has officially touched down back in California. The Duke of Sussex traveled to the UK for the first time in over a year for Prince Philip's funeral. The trip, however, was fairly quick, as his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is due
Paris: The United States has shared with Iran details of the sanctions it is prepared to lift under a return to a nuclear accord, a senior official said Wednesday. The United States and Iran are taking their second break from indirect talks in Vienna on how
New York: An independent United States’ commission has called for India, Russia, Vietnam and Syria to be added to a State Department blacklist on religious freedom. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government panel that gives recommendations to presidential administrations and Congress, said
Washington DC: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the Biden administration is working with Congress to provide nearly $300 million in additional aid for Afghanistan in 2021. "The funding will be targeted at sustaining and building on the gains of the past 20 years