India
Narcotics Control Bureau Raids Drug-Fueled Rave on Indian Cruise Ship
Eight people were arrested on a Goa-bound cruise liner after India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided the ship and seized an enormous amount of party drugs and cash. Between 800 and 1,000 passengers total were on the drug-fueled Cordelia Cruises ship, 200 of which opted not to continue on the trip after the bust. Several “high-profile” DJs were reportedly invited to perform and the high-profile party also involved a number of Indian celebrities. The NCB arrived around 1PM on the ship’s first day of sailing and seized a total of 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas (a cannabis concentrate), 22 MDMA pills, and 5 grams of mephedrone, in addition to more than 130,000 Indian rupees, or around $1,742.85 USD in cash. Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh...
Majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Bolsonaro, poll shows
For the first time, a majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a poll released on Saturday, as serious graft allegations related to vaccine procurement hit the right-wing leader’s already battered image. According to the survey by Datafolha, 54% of Brazilians support a proposed move by the country’s lower house to open impeachment proceedings against Bolsonaro, while 42% oppose it. In the last Datafolha survey on the issue, released in May, supporters and opponents of impeachment were essentially tied. In a separate Datafolha poll, released on Thursday, 51% of Brazilians said they disapproved of Bolsonaro, the highest figure since he took office in January 2019. In recent weeks, Brasilia has been rocked by allegations that federal officials solicited...
The travel that changed me: Vaseem Khan
Award-winning writer Vaseem Khan tells us how India’s ‘city of dreams’ turned him into an author There’s no denying it: Vaseem Khan is an overachiever. Born and raised in Newham (one of the UK’s most deprived areas), Vaseem went on to study at the London School of Economics, one of the best universities in the world. He spent a decade on the subcontinent setting up a chain of high-end hotels before returning to the UK to write The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, the first of a best-selling series of crime novels featuring Ashwin Chopra, a fastidious Mumbai Inspector, and his unlikely sidekick, a one-year-old elephant called Baby Ganesh. In 2020, after five Baby Ganesh novels, Vaseem published Midnight at Malabar House, the first in a new series featuring Persis Wadi...
Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia suspends UAE flights
Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior ministry said Saturday. The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunised citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year. The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis. Flights to and from the UAE, alongside those to Ethiopia and Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior ministry official said, quoted by the state news agency SPA. Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries will be required to quarantine for 14 days, it added. Citizens would be banned “from travelling directly or indirectly, without obtaining prior p...
Nigeria adds South Africa to its coronavirus ‘red list’ for arriving travellers
Nigeria is adding South Africa to its “red list” of countries for which there are stringent restrictions for arriving passengers, officials said during a briefing on Monday. Nigeria is introducing the restrictions due to the spread of the Delta variant in South Africa, Chikwe Ihekweazu, the head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said. The country joins India, Brazil and Turkey on the list. “In Nigeria, we haven’t found the Delta variant yet,” Ihekweazu said during the briefing. Non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited the countries on the list within 14 days are barred entry from Nigeria, while passport holders and residents must undergo a seven-day quarantine in a government-approved facility at cost to the passenger. They are also required to take Covid-19 tes...
Nigerian government says no immediate plan to ban cylinder imports
The Federal Government says it had no immediate plan to ban the importation of gas cylinders as part of its LPG expansion and implementation plan. Mr Dayo Adesina, Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Gas in the office of the Vice-President, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja. He said that the government was working on first building local capacities before contemplating a ban. According to Adesina, who is also the Programme Manager of the National LPG Expansion and Implementation, Nigeria still has a lot of cylinder deficits to fill in meeting the LPG expansion plan. He explained that the plan was to get LPG to the remotest of villages and discourage use of firewood and other fuels that are inimical to the environment. Adesina said that of the nation’s ove...
After Long Delay, India Launches International Singles Chart
Global pop hits dominated the inaugural chart, with BTS’s “Butter” topping the list, followed by Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” (No. 2), Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” (No. 3), Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and Giveon’s “Peaches” (No. 4) and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” (No. 5). BTS and Rodrigo tie for the most entries with three songs each in the top 20. The K-Pop group’s enduring hits “Dynamite” and “Life Goes On” sit at No. 8 and No. 20, respectively, while the fast-rising Disney star’s “Deja Vu” and “Drivers License” occupy the No. 18 and No. 19 positions. Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group jointly lead all labels with seven hits on the chart. Warner Music Group has five. The only independent label on the list is Canada’s Namah Music Group whose “Jalebi Baby” by Ca...
Italian premier calls for Euros final to be moved from Wembley
The prime minister of Italy has called for the Euro 2020 final to be moved from Wembley due to coronavirus concerns. Mario Draghi says the level of infection in the United Kingdom means alternative venues must be considered. “I will try to stop the final being held in a country where infections are rising quickly,” he said on Monday when asked if Rome could be considered a possible replacement. Wembley is due to host five knockout matches, including both semi-finals and then the final on July 11. Italy will also play their last-16 game in London against Austria on June 26. Cases of COVID-19 have been increasing in recent weeks in the UK, fuelled by the Delta variant first identified in India, with a further 10,633 confirmed on Monday. There are also still strict travel restrictions in plac...
Malawi runs out of coronavirus vaccines as second jabs due
Delays in coronavirus vaccine shipments to Malawi have caused health facilities to run out of doses as hundreds are due to receive a second shot, the health minister said Saturday. The southern African country has so far received 300 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the United Nations, 102 000 from the African Union and 50 000 donated by India. Inoculations started in April and the country was expecting a second UN shipment of 900 000 by the end of May, four weeks before the first vaccinated Malawians would be due a second dose. But Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo said that batch had been delayed by a recent surge in coronavirus cases in India, the world’s main AstraZeneca supplier, which forced the country to temporarily halt major vaccine exports to meet local demand. “The situ...
Rapid spread of Delta variant throws England’s re-opening into doubt
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hopes of ending England’s coronavirus lockdown on June 21 hung in the balance on Friday as data showed a further rise in cases of the rapidly spreading Delta variant. Johnson is due to announce on Monday whether the planned lifting of restrictions, which would see an end to limits on social contact, can go ahead on time. But the rapid spread of the Delta variant, officially a “variant of concern”, has thrown those plans into jeopardy, prompting speculation that the June 21 date will be pushed back, or that some restrictions will remain. “We have to be really careful. We had a very big opening on the 17th of May where people could meet friends indoors, in a restaurant, in a pub, and socialise indoors as well,” COVID-19 vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi t...
Africa on cusp of the third wave of coronavirus facing a vaccine shortage
Africa is heading into a third wave of coronavirus infections as the least-inoculated continent faces a shortage of vaccines. African nations reported 94,000 new cases in the week through June 6, a 26% increase. South Africa announced the most new cases, followed by Tunisia, Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention Director John Nkengasong said in an online briefing Thursday. “Fourteen or so of our member states are now heading toward the third wave, and aggressively so,” he said. “It really highlights the need for us to roll out vaccines at speed and at scale.” Only 2.8% of Africa’s population is inoculated, compared with a global average of 14.5%, according to Africa CDC and Bloomberg Economics data. The program has slowed because of interruptions to supply from India, where m...
India warns Twitter of consequences if it fails to follow new rules
India’s government has told Twitter it could face “unintended consequences” if it fails to comply with the country’s new social media rules, Reuters reported. India’s technology minister wrote in a June 5th letter to Twitter that the company’s responses to previous government letters about the new rules did not confirm whether Twitter was in full compliance, according to Reuters. Under India’s Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, which took effect in May, social media companies could be subject to legal action if they fail to follow the code’s provisions, which are aimed at regulating the platforms’ content. The new rules call for platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp to remove content within 36 hours of receiving a legal order. The rules also require the compani...
