The White House has clarified that the newly announced $100,000 H-1B visa fee will apply only to fresh petitions, not to renewals or current visa holders. “This is a one-time fee that applies only to new visas. It will first be levied in the next lottery cycle,” a senior official told Indian media on Saturday. White […]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a renewed global push to end wars and divisions, stressing that “peace cannot wait” as the world observes the International Day of Peace. “Lives are being ripped apart, childhoods extinguished, and basic human dignity discarded, amidst the cruelty and degradations of war,” Mr. Guterres said in his message […]
A Thai national living in the United States was recently lured into an elaborate phone scam after receiving a call from fraudsters posing as embassy staff and police officers, who falsely accused her of being linked to an international money laundering case. Wannapa Suprasert, known as Bow, said the ordeal began when she received […]
Morocco and Sierra Leone joined the list of States ratifying on Friday, becoming the 60th and 61st parties to the pact. The treaty, formally known as the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ […]
Held on the opening day of the UN General Assembly’s high-level week, the annual September gathering of world leaders, the initiative comes amid a deeply worrying regional backdrop of intensified Israeli military operations that have allegedly killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza since October 7, 2023, Israel’s strikes against Hamas officials in Qatar on […]
They warned that foreign military action, political exclusion and dwindling resources threaten to undo fragile gains. UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen – who announced that he will be stepping down from his role during the meeting – told ambassadors that interim authorities in Damascus have inherited “not just the ruins of shattered buildings, but the […]
Last century, scientists confirmed the alarming reality of a significant depletion in the ozone layer – an invisible shield of gas which surrounds the earth and protects it from the sun’s UV rays. The collection of ozone-depleting substances included CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, which in the mid-1980s were commonly found in everyday products such as air […]
The development followed reports that the Israeli military has stepped up its ground offensive in Gaza City, ordering residents to leave the area. Speaking from the south of the enclave, UNICEF’s Tess Ingram described the forced mass displacement of families as a “deadly threat for the most vulnerable”. “It is inhumane to expect nearly half […]
When a sitting or former president elects to seek $15 billion in damages from a single news organisation, the action reads less like a conventional libel suit than like a strategic campaign play writ in legal form. On Sept. 15–16, 2025, Donald Trump announced and filed such a complaint against The New York Times, several […]
US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping $15 billion defamation and libel suit against The New York Times, accusing the paper of running a “decades-long campaign of lies” and smearing him, his family, businesses, and political movement. Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump branded the newspaper “one of the most degenerative” in American […]
UN Budget Cuts and Reform Proposals Sent to ACABQ for Review The United Nations has submitted revised budget estimates to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), proposing a 15.1 per cent reduction in resources and an 18.8 per cent cut in posts in the regular budget compared with 2025. The support account […]
According to local reports, heavy shelling and assaults late last week in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, killed at least six civilians and injured scores more, triggering fresh displacement from the already besieged city. Sudan has been roiled in a brutal civil war between rival militaries – the Sudanese Armed Forces and […]
Pandemic Treaty Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the world’s first pandemic trety “a generational accomplishment”, while speaking at the start of a meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, taking place in Geneva through Friday. It comes four months after countries adopted the pact. Tedros said the next step “is to bring this […]
He stressed that their support for the non-proliferation regime, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the IAEA, is crucial. “I urge Member States to recommit to a system that has been one of the most important foundations for international peace, even during the tensest decades of our generation,” he said. He noted that the conference […]
The situation “is having an appalling impact on civilians enduring suffering and starvation,” he told journalists in New York. “The United Nations condemns the deadly escalation of the Israeli military offensive which took place over the weekend across Gaza City, with scores of people reportedly killed or injured,” he said. “We reiterate our call for […]
The world is retreating from gender equality, and the cost is being counted in lives, rights, and opportunities. Five years from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline in 2030, none of the gender equality targets are on track. That’s according to this year’s SDG Gender Snapshot report launched on Monday by UN Women and the UN […]
UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Monday that the turmoil in Yemen cannot be seen in isolation. “Yemen is both a mirror and a magnifier of the region’s volatility,” he said, noting that progress toward peace is hampered by regional rivalries, cross-border dynamics, and internal divisions. Mr. Grundberg highlighted a dangerous […]
The latest Cluster Munitions Monitor reports that over 1,200 people have been killed or injured in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The actual toll is likely far higher, but it may take years to establish, said Loren Persi, team lead for the report. Drawing parallels with conflicts in Syria and Yemen, where […]
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to impose a blanket stay on the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, while granting limited interim relief on contentious provisions. A bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, along with Justice A.G. Masih, stressed that courts must exercise restraint when asked to suspend laws passed by Parliament. “By […]
Dubai, Sep 14: Cricket’s most anticipated rivalry delivered an unusual sight on Sunday as the India–Pakistan Asia Cup clash in Dubai was played before swathes of empty seats. The 25,000-capacity stadium, which usually sells out in minutes for this fixture, saw hundreds of unsold tickets, with terraces visibly sparse despite months of hype. Local media […]