Geneva: Switzerland's public health authority said Saturday a first case of the COVID-19 variant contributing to the exploding outbreak in India has been detected in Switzerland. "The first case of the Indian variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in Switzerland," Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health

Bogota: Despite growing national and international condemnation, the militarized response and police repression of mostly peaceful demonstrations continues in different cities across Colombia. Police have used force indiscriminately and disproportionately, and there are alarming reports of sexual violence and disappearances, Amnesty International denounced today. Enforced

Ankara: Israel’s actions violate basic human rights and so must be brought to an immediate halt, said Turkey’s president Recep Erogan. Turkey demands the “despicable attacks on [Jerusalem’s] Al-Aqsa Mosque and Muslims be stopped immediately,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter. Decrying Israel’s actions as “violating decisions

Damascus: Iran’s foreign minister said that his country is ready for closer ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia, adding that he hoped recent talks between the two sides would lead to greater stability in the region. Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking in Damascus after a meeting

London: The UK government apologised  after 10 civilians were killed during violence in Northern Ireland nearly 50 years ago, Downing Street said. The apology came a day after a coroner ruled that British soldiers used “clearly disproportionate” force against protesters in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, in 1971.

Gaza: Israel fired artillery and mounted more air strikes on Friday against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. As hostilities entered their fifth day, with no sign of abating, the Israeli military said in a statement shortly after midnight that air and ground forces were attacking the

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of the coronavirus through India's vast countryside on Friday as the official tally of infections crossed 24 million, and 4,000 people died for the third straight day. The highly transmissible B.1.617 variant of

London: England remains on track for the latest easing of its coronavirus lockdown next week but is taking no chances after a doubling of cases of an Indian variant, the government said Friday. Accelerated vaccinations, surge testing and possible local restrictions are all in the mix

Uttarakhand: At least two Indian states have said they plan to dose their populations with the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to protect against severe COVID-19 infections as their hospitals are overrun with patients in critical condition. The move by the coastal state of Goa and northern state

Bengaluru: Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda sought to know whether people in the government should hang themselves for their failure to produce vaccines as was directed by the government. “The court has with good intention said everyone in the country should

New York: A prominent Hindu sect lured low-caste men from India to the United States and paid them just $1.20 an hour to build America’s largest Hindu temple, a lawsuit alleges. Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) is accused of exploiting around 200 Dalits in the