Category: WORLD

The protesters, many of them high school students, claim that the youth leadership of this initiative is what will set it apart from previous attempts to enact stronger gun-control legislation. The crowds gathered in Washington on Saturday for what is expected to be the biggest US gun control protest in a generation, with hundreds of thousands attending.In London, hundreds of people protested outside the US embassy. The student-organized protest is to feature rallies from coast to coast, with the main event in Washington within sight of the US Capital whose…

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NEW YORK: Concerned by the persistent allegations of chemical weapon use in Syria, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the use of chemical weapons, under any circumstances, is unjustifiable and abhorrent. The Secretary-General met on 20 March with the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and reiterated his support for its work in investigating allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria. In a statement by the spokesman for the secretary-general on Wednesday, Guterres added equally unjustifiable is a lack of response…

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The approval of Li’s appointment comes a day after Xi was reappointed as China’s president BEIJING: China’s ceremonial legislature appointed Premier Li Keqiang, the No. 2 leader of the ruling Communist Party, to a second five-year term Sunday and approved the appointment of a director for a new anti-corruption agency with sweeping powers. China’s Premier traditionally serves as the country’s top economic official, but president Xi Jinping has stripped the post of its most prominent duties by appointing himself to lead party bodies that oversee economic reform and state industry. jNational…

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Gurib-Fakim, Africa’s only female head of state, submitted her resignation in the “national interest,” her lawyer Yousouf Mohamed said. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced earlier this month that Gurib-Fakim had agreed to resign, with a date set for her departure after last Monday’s ceremony celebrating the Indian Ocean archipelago nation’s 50 years of independence. Gurib-Fakim is an internationally renowned scientist and biologist. She was appointed president in 2015 and was previously a chemistry professor and science faculty dean at the University of Mauritius. Gurib-Fakim had vowed to fight the accusations that…

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The presidential election is being held across the Russian Federation on Sunday, March 18. A Russian cosmonaut at the International Space Station also participated in the polls.  MOSCOW: Casting his ballot in Moscow, Putin seemed confident of victory, saying he would consider any percentage of votes a success. “The program that I propose for the country is the right one,” he said. Voters were casting ballots across the world’s largest country, from the Pacific coast to Siberia and Moscow. Voting will conclude at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT)…

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Bolivia intends to recover access to the Pacific Ocean which it lost to Chile in the 1879-1883 war. Tens of thousands of Bolivians held a nearly 200-km long  bright blue flag on Saturday in a show of support for their landlocked country’s demand that it be given a sovereign access to the sea. The so-called “flag of maritime revindication” stretched like a long blue ribbon between the towns Oruro and Apacheta, on the outskirts of capital La Paz. The display of patriotism comes just days before Bolivia is due to…

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By: Dr. Shah Ayaz Siddiqui (Editor-in-Chief-ICN Group) Today, half of the world’s 800 million starving people are small farmers and workers connected to the agricultural sector. Suicide rates in farmers are the highest of any occupation. That’s an alarming statistic.If you’ve idealized farming as an easy occupation, it’s not. Farming is characterized by high stress.Financial pressures, livestock disease, poor harvest, climate change, government policies and legislation can devastate farmers. High stress combined with frustration can lead to depression. In the U.S. the rate of farmer suicides is just under two times that…

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The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences (AMPAS) on Sunday paid its tributes to Indian stars Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi in the In Memoriam section of the Oscars The Shape of Water emerged victorious, winning a total of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, and awards for both original score and production design.Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the standout in the acting categories, earning Frances McDormand an Oscar for Best Actress, and Sam Rockwell an award for Best Supporting Actor. Gary Oldman’s lead performance as Winston Churchill…

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said the situation in the Eastern Ghouta is like “hell on Earth”. The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow aid deliveries and medical evacuations. The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, called for the ceasefire to be implemented immediately but said she was sceptical that Syria would comply. Haley claimed that the Assad regime had struck 19 health facilities since they began the bombing in eastern Ghouta on Sunday, a region that includes…

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