Reports

A young Muslim girl in the Indian state of Kerala has been receiving death threats for not wearing the burqa, and instead often opting for jeans. She is an aeronautical engineer by qualification striving to get into the country's civil services. For Rayana R Khasi, a resident of Kasargode, 600 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, her problems began after she returned from Chennai city last year after completing her engineering studies and coaching classes for the civil services exam...

Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot at a tourist bus on Sunday near the historic Jama Masjid in old Delhi area, injuring two Taiwanese nationals. The gunmen randomly opened fire near the mosque, hitting tourists who were in a bus parked nearby. Eyewitnesses told the CNN-IBN news channel that the attackers wore helmets and raincoats and escaped on their motorcycle after firing seven rounds. A red alert has been sounded for the two suspects who are still absconding. The police have recovered .38 bore...

The Sahara India Pariwar, an Indian conglomerate with deep pockets in the real estate and media sectors, is in talks about buying the debt of struggling film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $1.5 billion to $2 billion, according to news reports. Reuters reported that the talks are still in a preliminary stage. One source told the news agency that the Sahara group is contemplating a nearly $2 billion, all-cash deal for MGM's debt. Another source put the deal at roughly $1.5 billion. It was unclear...

A team of archaeologists has found the burial chamber of a priest named Karakhamun at the Theban Necropolis in Egypt. The tomb dates back to Dynasty 25 (c. 755BC) and was uncovered during conservation and restoration work on the west bank of Luxor. The restoration work of this tomb is part of a much larger project known as the South Asasif Conservation Project (ACP). The el-Asasif area is an archaeologically important site which contains nobles’ tombs from the New Kingdom, as well as the 25-26th...

Taxi drivers in Mumbai may now have an additional task on their hands apart from ferrying passengers ― keeping the police informed about any suspicious activity. Taxi drivers, however, feel they will now be harassed more by the police. The Mumbai police is planning this initiative as part of its Alert Mumbaikar campaign to keep a tab on the movement of suspicious people in the city. The police in Mumbai want to emulate the practice followed by their counterparts in the Gulf countries where taxi...

Three out of four people with mental health conditions in low- and middle-income countries do not have access to needed mental health treatment. Even in high-income countries, this figure is relatively high at 35-50 percent, according to a WHO study. People with severe mental health conditions also are less likely to receive treatment for physical health conditions. People with schizophrenia are 40 per cent less likely to be hospitalised for ischaemic heart disease, compared with people without...

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and Madagascar's Ministry of the Environment and Forests have declared the Nosivolo River as the country's seventh Ramsar site. It is the first river in Madagascar to receive this designation. Situated in a rich wetland area in the eastern part of Madagascar, ‘Rivière Nosivolo et affluents’ (358,511 ha; 20°03’S 48°07’E) comprises 130 km of main river system along which flowing water, lakes, pools and irrigated lands spread throughout 200 km, including 62 inland...

Humanitarian medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has stopped its mental health services in Kashmir due to increasing violence and a round-the-clock curfew. Kashmir has been rocked by public protests for the last three months. MSF teams have had no access to the hospitals to continue conducting the counselling sessions in view of the strict curfew is in place in several parts of Jammu and Kashmir state for close to a week. No person without a valid curfew pass is allowed...

A magnitude-6.3 earthquake rocked the Hindukush region of Afghanistan late Friday night. Tremors were also felt in neighbouring Pakistan and India. This was followed close on its heels with another 5.2 quake in Indonesia. The moderate-intensity quake hit the Hindukush region at around 19:21:13 UTC Friday (00:51 hrs Indian Standard Time (IST) on Saturday), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The IMD said the tremors were felt in several parts of north India, especially in Jammu and...

Hershey, one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the US, is lagging behind other companies in taking steps to ensure decent working conditions in its supply chain, a report has said. The company has even been linked to child labour. The report, titled 'Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility for the Hershey Company', said that Hershey dominates 42.5 per cent of the US chocolate market, even though it lags behind every major competitor in terms of programmes...