Author: News Desk

Donald Trump has denied a report alleging he made a promise to a foreign leader, which sparked a whistleblower’s formal complaint. The complaint is reported to relate to a July phone call with Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The Washington Post said an intelligence official found the comment “so troubling” they went to the department’s inspector general. In a tweet, Mr Trump dismissed the claims as “fake news”. Democrats are trying to get the complaint turned over to Congress, with the details still unknown. However, some reports allege that Mr Trump asked Mr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his…

Members of Russia’s film and theatre community are protesting after a young actor was jailed for assaulting a police officer during a rally he insists he wasn’t even part of. Pavel Ustinov, 23, was sentenced to three and a half years for injuring an officer during an unauthorized protest last month to demand free elections. Prosecutors said the actor, who has appeared in small roles in Russian films, had been heard shouting opposition slogans and had assaulted one of the officers who had tried to arrest him. But his supporters say videos posted on YouTube, which were not allowed to be shown…

In a first of its kind symbolic effort by India at the UN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a 50KW ‘Gandhi Solar Park’ next week during his visit to the world organisation, a gesture that highlights India’s willingness to go beyond the talk on climate change. At a contribution of about one million dollars, India has gifted solar panels that have been installed on the roof of the UN Headquarters here, one panel each for every 193 UN Member State. Modi will remotely inaugurate the solar park at the UN Headquarters and the ‘Gandhi Peace Garden’ during a special commemorative…

Reportedly tropical Depression Imelda inundated southeast Texas on Thursday, lashing some areas with torrential rain causing devastating flooding, leaving at least two dead and thousands of residents stranded. Rescuers in boats pulled hundreds from flooded cars. Meanwhile, in view of the situation, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of emergency for 13 counties in southeastern Texas. Abott said “This happened very quickly. It just demonstrates that in this day and time, climate change is real. We no longer have to be concerned just with a hurricane. We have to be concerned with almost any sort of weather system that…

UK’s Labour goes into its party conference this weekend with a leader who wants to remain “neutral” in any second Brexit referendum. Could that be a recipe for disaster for the party and the country?Just a few weeks ago, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn cut the increasingly forlorn figure that seems to have become his trademark ever since he pulled off the unexpected coup of reviving his party’s fortunes in the 2017 general election. Many of his most loyal supporters had to concede that Corbyn had, by all accounts, lost the plot on Brexit, dilly-dallying over which course to take and…

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is likely to raise the Kashmir issue and the human rights situation in the Valley during discussions at the high-level UN General Assembly session that begins here next week, his spokesperson has said. The Secretary-General’s Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric during the daily press briefing here on Thursday said the UN chief has underscored the need for dialogue as the only way to resolve the issue and, “as part of the solution for the current crisis in Kashmir, to make sure that human rights aspects are very much dealt with, as well.” On Kashmir, the Secretary-General has said…

Researchers working in the field of climate change communications have, for many years, been confronted with the same puzzle: why, when there is widespread recognition of the importance of climate change, has there not been any sustained demand for action? In opinion polls, people said they cared about climate change, but compared with issues such as immigration, the economy and more recently in the UK, Brexit, they didn’t care that much. In the past year, however, we have witnessed a genuine shift – a growth in momentum which can be traced variously to the power of a unique Swedish schoolgirl,…

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday, students and adults alike have taken to the streets to protest against climate inaction across the world. Influenced by Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, hoards of protesters can be seen on the streets in major metropolitans, including London and Paris. Other countries where the demonstrations can be seen are Germany, Tasmania, Thailand, India, to name a few. Thunberg is slated to lead protests in New York City, with several other demonstrations being scheduled to take place across the US, which pulled out of the landmark Paris…

President Donald Trump on Friday announced new sanctions on Iran’s central bank, calling the measures the “highest” sanctions ever imposed on a foreign country by the United States. “We have just sanctioned the Iranian national bank,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, later clarifying that he was referring to the Iranian central bank. “These are the highest sanctions ever imposed on a country,” he said. Trump earlier this week announced what he said would be substantial new sanctions against Iran, in response to what US officials say was likely Iranian involvement in an attack on Saudi oil facilities. The…

Austrian lawmakers have voted to provide the path to Austrian citizenship for descendants of people who had been forced out of the country by the Nazis. Great-grandchildren of Nazi victims would also be eligible. Under a new law, Austria will grant citizenship to claimants who can prove that one of their ancestors was forced out of the country by the Nazi regime. A broad majority voted for the law on Friday in parliament, with the local Jewish community also expressing their approval. “With this decision, the Republic of Austria is living up to its historic responsibility,” said Oskar Deutsch, president of…