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16-04-2023 PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday signed into law his highly disfavored pension reforms, lifting the pension age from 62 to 64. The signing came hours after France’s top constitutional body cleared the change. The Constitutional Council annulled the opposition’s demand for a referendum however, it also removed …

16-04-2023 BERLIN: Germany’s final three nuclear power plants close their doors on Saturday, marking the end of the country’s nuclear era that has spanned more than six decades. Nuclear power has long been contentious in Germany. There are those who want to end reliance on a technology they view as …

15-04-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: A group of historians from India’s leading universities have slammed recent revisions to school textbooks that include removing or trimming references to Islamic rule in the subcontinent and to the anger among some Hindu extremists at independence leader Mahatma Gandhi’s pursuit of …

15-04-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies PERTH/ SYDNEY: A powerful cyclone has hit Western Australia as a category five storm, setting a wind speed record but sparing populated areas from major damage. Severe Tropical Cyclone Ilsa struck the state close to Port Hedland, the world’s largest iron ore export hub, just …

15-04-2023 MINNEAPOLIS: Minneapolis has agreed to pay nearly $9m (£7.2m) to settle lawsuits filed by two black residents against Derek Chauvin. Both residents, who were arrested in 2017, said Chauvin had pressed his knee into their necks, the same tactic that killed George Floyd three years later. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob …

15-04-2023 LHASA: A top Tibetan leader has defended the Dalai Lama over a video that showed him asking a child to suck his tongue. Penpa Tsering, head of Tibet’s government-in-exile, has called the spiritual leader’s actions “innocent” and said it demonstrated his “affectionate behavior”. The video sparked outrage after it …

15-04-2023 TALLAHASSEE: Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning most abortions after six weeks, paving the way for drastic changes in access to the procedure across the state. Opponents argue six weeks is before many women know they are pregnant. The law will not go into effect …

15-04-2023 PYONGYANG: North Korea says it tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, its “most powerful” missile to date. State media hailed Thursday’s launch, which led to a brief evacuation order in Japan, a “miraculous success”. Solid-fuel missiles can be fired more quickly than liquid-fuel ones, making them harder to …

15-04-2023 HOUSTON: Approximately 18,000 cows were killed in a blast at a Texas dairy farm earlier this week, according to local authorities. The explosion, at South Fork Dairy near the town of Dimmitt, also left one person in critical condition. Authorities believe that machinery in the facility may have ignited …

15-04-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ LONDON: The prime minister of India has called on UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take “strong action against anti-India elements” in the UK who have been campaigning for the creation of Khalistan for Sikhs, according to Narendra Modi’s office. Sunak and Modi …