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Category: World

  • New Zealand gets a tattooed foreign minister

    New Zealand gets a tattooed foreign minister

    After her victory in general elections, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed the country’s first indigenous female foreign minister, with a facial tattoo.

    Newly appointed Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, who is a Maori – a minority group in New Zealand – wears a traditional tattoo on her chin, called a moko kauae. The Maori tattoos are usually bestowed on high-ranking  women as a reflection of their standing or power in the community.

    Four years ago, she made history by becoming country’s first female member of the parliament to wear a Maori chin tattoo, and this year she will take on the role of foreign minister.

    “Moko is a statement of identity, like a passport,” said Mahuta. “I am at a time in my life where I am ready to make a clear statement that this is who I am, and this is my position in New Zealand.”

    Politicians from both sides of the political spectrum congratulated Mahuta on her appointment as foreign minister. Rukuwai Tipene-Allen, a political journalist for Maori Television, said Mahuta’s appointment was hugely significant. “The first face that people see at an international level is someone who speaks, looks and sounds like a Maori”

    PM Ardern, whose center-left Labour Party was reelected in the elections last month, has one of the most diverse parliament in the world. Almost half of the country’s lawmakers are women, which is higher than the global average of 25%. Moreover, she has also appointed the first openly gay deputy prime minister.

    “This is a cabinet and an executive that is based on merit that also happen to be incredibly diverse and I am proud of that,” Ardern said Monday as she announced her cabinet.

  • Turkey quake: Trapped toddler reaches out for rescuer’s thumb; rescued after 65 hours

    Turkey quake: Trapped toddler reaches out for rescuer’s thumb; rescued after 65 hours

    A wounded three-year-old girl has been saved by rescue workers after being trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building for 65 hours, following the devastating earthquake in Turkey.

    The child, identified by authorities as Elif Perincek, was trapped under the debris inn Izmir. Her mother and twin sisters, who were also present at the house when the quake struck, were rescued earlier. When firefighter Muammer Celik found her on Monday, she was lying motionless. A body bag was brought, but as Celik extended his arm to wipe her face, the child abruptly opened her eyes and grabbed his thumb.

    “That’s where we saw a miracle,” said the firefighter, recounting the rescue search. He further told the media that the little girl was holding his thumb tightly until he brought her to safety.

    The video on Turkish television shows the rescue workers carrying the little girl to the ambulance, wrapped in a foil blanket.

    Elif was the 106th person to be rescued from the rubble and was taken to hospital.

    According to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, the little girl is not suffering from any serious injury and is being monitored in intensive care.

    Another miraculous case was when 4-year-old Ayda, who was trapped for 91 hours under a collapsed building, was also rescued in Izmir city.

    As of Tuesday, the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Turkey had officially claimed at least 102 lives. Almost 994 more were injured, and dozens of people were still missing. According to the local rescue agencies, search and rescue efforts are still underway to reach survivors trapped under the rubble.

  • Woman files case against husband for hiding his baldness

    Woman files case against husband for hiding his baldness

    A 27-year-old chartered accountant has registered a complaint against her husband accusing him of cheating her by hiding his baldness.

    As per reports, the case was registered against the man under Sections 406 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Naya Nagar Police Station in Thane based on the woman’s complaint.

    Read more – Two men cheat London-returned doctor, sell him ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for Rs 2.5 crore

    She alleged that her husband’s family did not tell that he is bald. The 27-year-old said that her husband had been wearing a wig and if she knew he was bald she wouldn’t have married him two years ago.

    The woman claimed that she got to know about her husband’s baldness a day after the marriage and when she reached out to her in-laws they did not consider it as a serious matter.

    The man has filed a petition in a Thane court which asked him to surrender before the police.

  • Pakistan helping Syria out in its fight against COVID-19

    Pakistan helping Syria out in its fight against COVID-19

    A Pakistani plane loaded with medical assistance, aimed at supporting the efforts of the Syrian government to confront the coronavirus pandemic, reached the Damascus International Airport on Sunday.

    Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) organised the aid, including medical equipment, masks, protective gears and other health items, on the request of the Syrian government. Syrian Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Faisal Mikdad expressed gratitude to Pakistani government for supporting Syria, and stated that the shipment sent by Pakistan, was the largest shipment ever received by the country during the health crisis.

    Currently, Syria is considered vulnerable to the pandemic due to dire humanitarian situation and the civil war that has been ongoing for nearly a decade. The total number of COVID-19 infections registered in Syria has reached at 5789, out of which 2021 ones have recovered while 292 others have died.

    Under this situation, Syrian Deputy Health Minister Ahmad Khleifawi stressed the importance of this aid in supporting the country’s health sector, as reported by a Syrian state-run news agency (SANA).

    Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, some countries have reduced their diplomatic activities in Damascus, but Pakistan has maintained its unbiased political stance towards the war-torn country.

    After receiving the aid, Pakistani Ambassador to Damascus Saeed Muhammad Khan ensured that the aid would be effectively distributed to hospitals and authorities in Syria.

  • Two men cheat London-returned doctor, sell him ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for Rs 2.5 crore

    Two men cheat London-returned doctor, sell him ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for Rs 2.5 crore

    Two men allegedly cheated an Indian man from Uttar Pardesh by selling him “Aladdin ka Chiragh” or Aladdin’s Lamp for Rs 2.5 crore.

    According to reports, Dr Laeek Khan had returned to India from London a few years ago. He approached the police to register a complaint against the two men. In his complaint, the doctor stated that the men pretending to be tantriks or occultists and told him that the gold lamp would help him fulfill all his wishes.

    Dr Khan said that it all started in 2018 when he would frequently visit a female patient named Sameena for post-surgery dressing.

    It was through her that the doctor met a tantrik, who claimed that he had magical powers. The man promised to give the doctor ‘Aladdin Ka Chiragh‘ and make him a billionaire.

    According to Indian news reports, the tantrik and his friend would show the doctor a ‘jinn‘ (genie) appear from the lamp but would not allow him to take it home, saying that touching it would be ominous for him.

    Believing what he saw, the doctor said he paid the men Rs 2.5 crore in installments and was finally able to take home the lamp recently. However, later, the doctor realised that the ‘jinn’ he had been seeing was the husband of the woman.

    Khan realised that he was being cheated on and contacted the local police. This week, the police arrested the two accused Islamuddin and his friend Anees while a search for the woman is underway.

  • Woman fined Rs 0.65m for calling man ‘shameless’ in public

    Woman fined Rs 0.65m for calling man ‘shameless’ in public

    A woman has been fined Dh15,000 (Rs0.65 million) after she called a man ‘shameless’ in a public space, The News has reported.

    The verdict was announced by the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals, according to which, the defendant had called a young man ‘shameless’ in a mall. 

    Following the incident, the man filed a complaint against the woman, followed up with a civil suit claiming Dh100,000 in moral damages.

    The civil court, in addition to court fees, ordered the defendant to pay Dh15,000 in compensation.

    However, the woman appealed the ruling, saying that the man had attempted to stalk her daughter and pass on his contact details to her. 

    The appellate court rejected this appeal, as there was no evidence regarding the provocation by the man.

  • Saudi Arabia angers India over new currency notes

    Saudi Arabia angers India over new currency notes

    India has lodged a protest over the issuance of Saudi Arabia’s new currency notes that do not feature Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India.

    The 20 Riyal bank note was issued by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority on October 24 to mark the Kingdom’s presidency of the upcoming G20 summit in November. The note, with an image of the world map, has shown Kashmir as separate states and not belonging to any of the rival Asian states of Pakistan and India.

    Anger erupted in India because of the map, even though the country has illegally occupied the territory of Kashmir and there is a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decree recognising it as an international dispute.

    External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava is reported to have said that New Delhi has raised “serious concerns” about the banknote both at the Saudi Embassy in India, as well as at India’s embassy in Riyadh.

    “We have taken up this gross misrepresentation of India’s external territorial boundaries on an official and legal banknote of Saudi Arabia… we’ve asked the Saudi side to take urgent corrective steps in this regard,” he said.

    Additionally, it was found that the distortion was in the Pakistani map as well.

    The G20 summit is set to be held from November 21-22 this year in Saudi Arabia and India is a part of it. Although the relations between Saudi Arabia and India are seen as healthy, with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman referring to India’s Narendra Modi as his “elder brother” during a meeting last year, the new developments might create some hurdles.

    Earlier, India put a ban on Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera in 2015 for publishing a map of the country that excluded Kashmir. Also, the country has frequently censored the Economist magazine for showing Kashmir as a disputed region.

  • VIDEO: Man burns Mercedes as he was annoyed with company’s service

    VIDEO: Man burns Mercedes as he was annoyed with company’s service

    A Russian YouTuber burnt down his luxurious Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S in protest against the German car manufacturer.

    Mikhail Litvin who has 4.95 million subscribers on YouTube burnt down his Mercedes because he was annoyed with the service of the car company.

    His Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S reportedly broke down numerous times after he bought it from an official dealership in May last year. The YouTuber sent the car for repair to the dealer five times, but the repairs did not help.

    After the recent breakdown, the dealer stopped replying to him. Litvin then poured fuel on his luxury Mercedes in the middle of an empty field and set fire to the vehicle, Times Now News reported.

    In the video, he said, “I thought for a long time what to do with my Shark after the conflict with Mercedes. In my opinion, the idea is FIRE! That’s all … The end … I’m not happy.”

  • Village in India prays for success of Indian descent Kamala Harris

    US vice presidential candidate for the democratic party, Kamala Harris, who is the first US senator of South Asian descent, came from a small south Indian village near the city of Chennai, called Thulasendrapuram. The residents of the village have taken pride in the fact that a person whose family originally hailed from their village will become the second-most powerful person in the world’s richest country, if she wins the elections.

    “We are really hoping she wins,” said the head of Thulasendrapuram’s village committee Gurunathan, who is planning to hold a special prayer at the local temple on election day, “the village has received global fame because of her. She is our pride.”

    “From Thulasendrapuram to America” declares one of the many banners put up in the village. Kamal Harris 35-year-old California-based niece also tweeted a picture of one of the banners plastered in the village.

    https://twitter.com/meenaharris/status/1295122834080108544?s=20

    Preparations are being made in the local temple to conduct an “abhishekam” – a Hindu ritual – to pray for Harris’ victory.

    There is also a different sentiment being expressed by some members of the village. “…I think she is not proud of her Hindu roots, she identifies herself as a Christian,” the temple’s caretaker, SV Ramanan, said, “though she has reconnected with her Indian connection on the campaign trail, she has mostly played up her image as an American.”

  • Awakening of the ‘sleeping giant’: melting Arctic releases methane gas

    New research shows that a high level of the potent methane gas has started to release over a large area of the Arctic Ocean, which can have serious consequences on the global climate.

    The frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean – termed as the “sleeping giants of the carbon cycle” – and other greenhouse gases have been detected down to a depth of 350 metres in the Laptev Sea near Russia.

    The research team reported that most of the bubbles of methane gas were currently dissolving in the water but some amount is also venting into the atmosphere.

    “At this moment, there is unlikely to be any major impact on global warming, but the point is that this process has now been triggered. This East Siberian slope methane hydrate system has been perturbed and the process will be ongoing,” said the Swedish scientist Örjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University.

    The warming effect of methane is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide and can accelerate the pace of global heating. Additionally, the United States Geological Survey has previously listed Arctic hydrate destabilization as one of the four most serious scenarios for abrupt climate change.

    Previously in 2010, Semiletov had also reported leaking of methane gas and other powerful greenhouse gas under the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean.

    With the Arctic temperature now rising more than twice as fast as the global average, this discovery of destabilized slope frozen methane could result in accelerating global warming.