Category: WORLD

At least 257 people have been killed after a military plane crashed near the Boufarik airbase outside the Algerian capital, Algiers. The Algerian plane went down in a field near the Boufarik military base, which is is 20 miles from the capital, Algiers, and close to the Mediterranean Sea. Algeria’s defense ministry said in a statement that 247 passengers and 10 crew members were killed. It said most of the victims are soldiers and their relatives. The bodies were taken to an army hospital in the town of Ain Naadja for identification, the ministry said.The…

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TOKYO: Oscar-nominated Japanese anime director Isao Takahata, who co-founded the Studio Ghibli and was best known for his work “Grave of the Fireflies”, has died aged 82, the studio said on Friday. Takahata had heart problems, and his condition grew worse last summer. The director passed quietly at him home while being surrounded by his loved ones. Takahata’s latest film, “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” earned him an Academy nomination in 2014 for best animated feature. It was also selected for a slot in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar to…

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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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