China accused the United States on Monday of using the United Nations to “meddle” in Tibet, as Washington intensifies its bid to prevent Beijing from handpicking the Dalai Lama’s successor. Last week, Sam Brownback, the US’ ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said the US wanted the UN to take up the succession issue of the Tibetan spiritual leader. The choice …

The death toll from a cyclone that barrelled into the coasts of Bangladesh and India has risen to 24, authorities said on Monday, as the two nations assess the scale of devastation wreaked by the powerful storm. Bangladesh carried out one of its biggest ever evacuation drives, moving some 2.1 million people to cyclone shelters specially built to minimise casualties …

Indian police have arrested dozens of people for social media comments that allegedly threatened “communal harmony” after the Supreme Court awarded a holy site — where a mob demolished the 16th century Babri Mosque in 1992 — to Hindus, officials said Monday. The site, in the northern city of Ayodhya, has in the past caused religious riots that have left thousands dead. …

New Zealand’s government is proposing legislation to ban certain criminals from being anywhere near guns even if they didn’t own them, a measure that politicians acknowledge has significant human rights implications. The proposed law would make it illegal for some criminals to live or visit a house where a gun is present or to travel in a car that has …

WASHINGTON: The United States on Sunday urged Iraqi authorities to hold early polls and carry out electoral reforms, and called for an end to the violence against protesters that has left hundreds dead. Washington wants “the Iraqi government to halt the violence against protesters and fulfill President (Barham) Saleh’s promise to pass electoral reform and hold early elections,” the White …

WASHINGTON: The start of open hearings in the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump on Wednesday will give the American public their first chance to witness live the explosive showdown between Democrats and Republicans over the US leader’s future. The hearing before the House Intelligence Committee marks the second phase of the impeachment investigation into allegations that Trump abused his …

In a diabolical interpretation of facts, the Supreme Court of India last week ended a nearly 500 year-old claim of the Muslim community over the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya on the premise that the main petitioner, Sunni Waqf Board, could not establish possession over the land for 325 years between the creation of the mosque in 1528 to the year …

LONDON: Veteran British lawmaker Keith Vaz has announced he is standing down from parliament, just weeks after he was censured in a cocaine scandal. Vaz, who was born to Goan parents in Yemen, was first elected for the central English city of Leicester in 1987. He will not stand again in next month´s vote, he announced late Sunday. A parliamentary …

La Paz: Bolivian President Evo Morales resigned Sunday, caving in following three weeks of sometimes-violent protests over his disputed re-election after the army and police withdrew their backing. “I resign my post as president,” the leftist Morales said in a televised address, capping a day of fast-moving events in which several ministers and senior officials quit as support for Latin …

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported a total of more than $50 billion in sales on Monday in the first half of Singles Day, an annual marketing event that is the world’s busiest online shopping day. Singles Day began as a joke holiday created by university students in the 1990s as an alternative to Valentine’s Day for people without …