Twitter has labelled a tweet by the IT head of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as “manipulated media”. Indian media reports on Wednesday said the flagging of Amit Malviya’s tweet about police action during an ongoing farmers’ protest near the capital Delhi was the first instance of Twitter proceeding against “fake news” in India. In the tweet in question, …

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has granted the United Nations access to deliver aid to the northern region of Tigray, following weeks of lobbying amid military operations there, according to an agreement on Wednesday. The agreement, signed by Ethiopia’s peace minister, comes four weeks after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops and warplanes in a campaign targeting leaders of the region’s …

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha survived a legal challenge on Wednesday over his living arrangements that could have seen him thrown out of office, in a court ruling that prompted anger among thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The kingdom’s nine-judge constitutional court ruled that Prayut — already under pressure after months of street protests calling for him to quit — …

AHMEDABAD: Five brothers have been arrested in India after a man was paraded naked in the streets allegedly in punishment for a social media post, police said on Wednesday. Police said that the 38-year-old victim was kidnapped on Tuesday by the brothers, assaulted and made to walk for 45 minutes around the western town of Khambhaliya with no clothes on. …

GENEVA: This year is on course to be one of the three warmest ever recorded and could even top the record set in 2016, the United Nations said on Wednesday. The past six years, 2015 to 2020, are therefore set to make up all six of the hottest years since modern records be­­gan in 1850, the UN’s World Meteoro­lo­gical Organisation …

A video ad from Nike Japan against bullying and racism that features biracial athletes and other minorities, such as those of Korean descent, has prompted a sharp online response including calls to boycott the company. Japan has traditionally prided itself on being racially homogeneous, although successful mixed-race athletes such as tennis star Naomi Osaka are challenging that image. The commercial, …

SINGAPORE: Lab-grown chicken will soon be available in restaurants in Singapore after the country became the first to green-light meat created without slaughtering any animals. US start-up Eat Just said on Wednesday that its meat had been approved for sale in the city-state as an ingredient in chicken nuggets. The news marks a “breakthrough for the global food industry”, said …

Azerbaijan said on Thursday that nearly 2,800 of its soldiers were killed in recent fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, the first details it has released of military losses in weeks of clashes with Armenian forces. The defence ministry in Baku said in a statement that “2,783 servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces were killed in the patriotic war”, adding that 100 more …

ISLAMABAD: Employees of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Wednesday, while protesting against the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Ordinance, suspended all services, apart from the coronavirus and emergency ward. The ordinance was promulgated by President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi last month, which suggests that the hospital will be run through a board of governors. Protesters came out of …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz moved before the Supreme Court on Wednesday an application seeking early fixing of his bail plea filed in April 25 this year. “It is expedient in the interest of justice that the titled CPLA (civil petition for leave to appeal) may be fixed at an early date,” said the one-page application filed …