A sweeping police reform package that bans choke holds and combats racial profiling cleared the US House of Representatives Wednesday, five days before the trial of a white officer charged with murdering African-American George Floyd.

Seventeen percent of the food available to consumers worldwide in 2019 -- almost one billion tonnes -- was thrown away by households, retailers, institutions and the hospitality industry, far more than previously suspected, the UN said yesterday.

How about this for bargain-hunting? A small bowl bought for $35 in a yard sale in the US turned out to be a rare 15th century Chinese artifact possibly worth $500,000.

India’s top court yesterday said it favoured a screening mechanism for online video streaming services, dominated in the country by Amazon and Netflix and which currently are aired freely.

Meghan Markle says Buckingham Palace is “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and her husband Prince Harry, according to part of an interview she has done with Oprah Winfrey.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the United States was ready to confront China wherever necessary, calling Washington’s ties with the Asian power the “biggest geopolitical test” of the century.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today said security forces in Myanmar must “halt their vicious crackdown on peaceful protestors,” following another day of deadly violence across the country on Wednesday.

Officials in New Zealand issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas after a shallow, powerful earthquake struck off its northeastern coast on Thursday night. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.

Expressing a view which is dissent from a decision taken by the federal government cannot be said to be seditious, India’s Supreme Court has observed.

Armed Myanmar soldiers and police are using TikTok to deliver death threats to protesters against last month’s coup, researchers said, prompting the Chinese video-sharing app to announce it was removing content that incites violence.

New Zealand police said on Thursday they had charged a 27-year-old man after he threatened to attack two mosques that were the scene of mass murder by a white supremacist two years ago.

Three Myanmar police officers have crossed over the border into northeastern India to escape taking orders from a military junta that is trying to suppress protests against last month’s coup, an Indian police official said on Thursday.

Police in Myanmar broke up demonstrations in several places with tear gas and gunfire on Thursday but there was no immediate word on casualties a day after the United Nations said 38 people had been killed in the bloodiest day since last month’s coup.

India focuses on the development of connectivity with Bangladesh and beyond as the two countries celebrate 50 years of the diplomatic relationship.

The Taj Mahal in Agra was briefly shut and tourists were evacuated his morning after Uttar Pradesh Police received a call about a bomb at the iconic monument. The call was made to the police helpline, NDTV reports.

SpaceX’s futuristic Starship looked like it aced a touchdown Wednesday, but then exploded on the landing pad with so much force that it was hurled into the air.

The US House of Representatives cancelled a session scheduled for Thursday following law enforcement warnings of intelligence pointing to a possible plot by a militia group to breach the US Capitol, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka around 10am today.

A rocket attack on an Iraqi base hosting US-led coalition troops yesterday claimed a contractor’s life, security sources said, just days after US airstrikes hit pro-Iranian militias in Syria.

US President Joe Biden suffered his first cabinet defeat Tuesday as he pulled an ill-fated nomination, the clearest signal yet that immensely powerful moderates in the deadlocked Senate can imperil his administration’s ambitious agenda.