NEW DELHI — Alikkoya, a 45-year-old fisherman staying on the Lakshadweep island, was heartbroken to see his shed, the only source of livelihood he had, being razed by the authorities in the name of “development”. India’s smallest Union Territory Lakshadweep, off the coast of the southern state of Kerala, is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands […]

Blair “The Flair” Cobbs serenades audiences with pro wrestling great Ric “Nature Boy” Flair’s “Wooooo!” every chance he gets. For as much as he can talk with the best of them, his fists work just as well inside the ring. Boasting a 14-0-1 record, the welterweight is again ready for action after more than a […]

CANBERRA, Australia — An architect of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is maintaining pressure against a proposed overhaul of the program. Bruce Bonyhady, the inaugural chairman of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, is aghast the Morrison government remains committed to introducing an assessment model universally slammed by the disability community. He believes the independent assessment policy will undermine the scheme. […]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand’s biggest pop star Lorde is on the cusp of releasing her first music in four years. The Kiwi musician updated her website with a new record cover, on June 8 titled Solar Power, with a tagline “Arriving in 2021 … patience is a virtue”. Along with this, there was a link encouraging fans to […]

PERTH, Australia — West Australians aged 30 to 49 will be eligible to receive the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from June 10, Premier Mark McGowan has announced. Bookings are now open for over-30s at state-run clinics, including Claremont Showgrounds, which will offer Pfizer jabs seven days a week. It comes after the national cabinet last week agreed to expand […]

SYDNEY — They’re young, impatient, ineligible — and now vaccinated. South-eastern Australian state of New South Wales’s under-40s is getting the Pfizer Covid-19 jab despite not meeting the state’s vaccination eligibility criteria. Several people have managed to book a vaccine appointment using hyperlinks circulated to frontline workers for their household contacts — despite not being eligible themselves. P, […]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand’s road to carbon neutrality has been made more challenging by revised carbon emissions, showing a vast emissions increase in 2019. However, according to Climate Change Commissioner Rod Carr, the mid-century zero carbon target remains achievable, speaking on the release of a proposed “emissions budget.” The Climate Change Commission’s (CCC) budget spells […]

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s South-eastern state of Victoria’s government mental health tax is set to become law. State Taxation and Mental Health Acts Amendment Bill 2021 passed the Legislative Council 24-14 and will now go to the Governor for royal assent. Eight of the state’s 11 crossbenchers voted with the Labor government to pass the bill. Under the Mental Health […]

A 2,000-year-old basilica complex dating to Roman times will be fully unearthed, restored and opened to visitors as part of a renovation project in Tel Ashkelon National Park. The complex, the largest of its kind in Israel, was discovered in archaeological excavations led by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) as part of an extensive development […]

SYDNEY — There will be no limit on the number of taxis in the south-eastern Australian state of New South Wales, with taxi licenses no longer able to be bought and sold under major reforms announced by the state government. The move to further deregulate the struggling taxi industry is meant to help taxi businesses, drivers, […]

KOLKATA, India — India reported its first case of an animal dying of coronavirus despite zoos being shut for public viewing due to a severe Covid-19 scenario. Last month, the first case of an animal testing positive was discovered. Neela, a nine-year-old lioness, died on June 3 in a Chennai zoo in the Indian state of […]

Troy Delone was not always an upstanding citizen. His extracurricular street activities landed him in the country’s largest maximum-security prison, Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana, when he was 21. Though he was sentenced to double-life plus five years for two counts of armed robbery, Delone was determined to find his way out of prison via […]

When Ofir Aharon was finishing his PhD in electro-optics engineering, his mother was diagnosed with melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer. He decided to channel his knowledge into inventing a potentially lifesaving device that could detect unique patterns of light movements in the skin before visible signs such as changes in pigmentation show up […]