Three employees of India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) were abducted yesterday by suspected United Liberation Front for Asom (Independent) militants owing allegiance to their fugitive leader Paresh Barua from an oilfield in Sivsagar district of Assam.

Four states in the Middle East, led by Iran, made “ruthless and chilling” use of the death penalty in 2020 despite an overall decline during the Covid-19 pandemic, dominating the global toll of executions, Amnesty International said yesterday.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday warned the West not to cross Russia’s “red lines”, saying Moscow would respond swiftly and harshly to any provocations in a way that would force those behind them to regret their actions.

The European Parliament and EU member states yesterday agreed a target to cut carbon emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030, in what was called a “game changer” just ahead of a US-hosted climate summit.

US President Joe Biden called systemic racism a “stain on our nation’s soul” in a televised address to the nation Tuesday after a white former police officer was convicted of murdering a Black man during an arrest.

Keen to make the most of a statutory holiday for newlyweds, a couple from Taiwan found a novel way to maximise their honeymoon -- by marrying four times in just over a month.

India’s Border Security Force has sought registration of an FIR against a winged “intruder” from Pakistan--a pigeon--in the northern state of Punjab bordering Pakistan.

India’s Border Security Force has sought registration of an FIR against a winged “intruder” from Pakistan -- a pigeon -- in the northern state of Punjab.

The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Tuesday that it found a “possible link” between Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine and extremely rare blood clots and that a warning should be added to the label. But experts at the agency reiterated that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks.

More than 260 non-governmental organisations signed an open letter yesterday urging governments to donate $5.5 billion to prevent famine from reaching 34 million people in 2021.

Pakistan’s parliament has postponed until Friday a debate on whether the country should expel the French ambassador, as the government bids to appease a radical party that has threatened more violent protests unless the envoy is kicked out.

The annual report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday said that journalism was at least partly blocked in nearly three-quarters of the 180 countries surveyed.

An Indian railway worker has been hailed a “superhero” after he sprinted more than 30 metres along a track to grab a boy from the path of an express train.

India’s Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday said that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and has “mild symptoms”. Rahul had campaigned in West Bengal assembly elections and yesterday asked all to self-isolate themselves who came in contact with him.

Chad’s President Idriss Deby, who ruled his country for more than 30 years and was an important Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in Africa, has been killed in a battle against rebels in the north.

Russia will soon have more than 120,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said yesterday, calling for new Western economic sanctions to deter Moscow from “further escalation”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday called for a rejection of hegemonic power structures in global governance, amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over a widening range of issues including alleged human rights abuses.

Climate-changing CO2 emissions are set to surge by the second-biggest amount in history this year as the global economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, the IEA warned yesterday, a day after UN chief warned days before a major climate summit.

Chad's President Idriss Deby, who ruled his country for more than 30 years and was an important Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in Africa, has been killed on the frontline against rebels in the north.

Bangladesh has slipped one notch in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, by Reporters Without Borders, also known as Reporters sans frontières (RSF).