- Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Reuters
Bangladesh quota protesters call for nationwide shutdown amid clashes
Student protesters demanding an end to quotas for government jobs in Bangladesh called on Thursday for a complete shutdown nationwide, after deadly clashes this week killed six and injured hundreds. Angered by high youth unemployment, with nearly 32 million out of work or education among a population of 170 million, the students have pressed for the abolition of a quota of 30% reservations for the families of freedom fighters.
World leaders condemn shooting at Trump rally, denounce political violence
Various world leaders on Saturday condemned the shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania in which the former president was shot in the right ear, while one rally attendee and the shooter were left dead. Leaders from multiple nations expressed shock at the incident, denounced political violence and wished Trump a quick recovery.
Red carpet style at the lavish Ambani wedding
Celebrities arrive on the red carpet as Anant Ambani - the youngest son of Asia's richest person Mukesh Ambani - marries his long-time girlfriend Radhika Merchant.
Storm Beryl kills three, knocks out power for 2.7 million in Texas
Tropical Storm Beryl brought howling winds and torrential rain to southeast Texas on Monday, killing at least three people, flooding highways, closing oil ports, cancelling more than 1,300 flights and knocking out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses.
2024 could be world's hottest year as June breaks records
Last month was the hottest June on record, the EU's climate change monitoring service said on Monday, continuing a streak of exceptional temperatures that some scientists said puts 2024 on track to be the world's hottest recorded year.
New UK PM Keir Starmer says Britain must rediscover its identity
New Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain needed to rediscover its identity and undergo a wider reset, in his first words outside his new office at 10 Downing Street, promising to fight to restore trust in politics and serve all voters.
Britons vote in election expected to propel Labour to power
Britons were voting on Thursday in a parliamentary election that is expected to bring Keir Starmer's Labour Party to power, sweeping away Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives after 14 often turbulent years.
At least 121 people, mostly women, killed in stampede at India's Hathras
The death toll from a stampede at a Hindu religious congregation in northern India has risen to 121, news agency ANI reported on Wednesday, where a police report said the number of people present was more than triple the permitted capacity. The stampede on Tuesday was at the religious event in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of New Delhi, where police had given permission for 80,000 people to gather, according to the document, the first information report.
France begins voting in election that could hand power to far-right
French voters began voting on Sunday in the first round of a snap parliamentary election that could usher in the country's first far-right government since World War Two, a potential sea change at the heart of the European Union. President Emmanuel Macron stunned the country when he called the vote after his centrist alliance was crushed in European elections this month by Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN). Her eurosceptic, anti-immigrant party was a longtime pariah but is now closer to power than it has ever been.
-original-thumb.jpg)
Number of days over 35 C surges in world's scorching capitals
The number of days reaching a sizzling 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) in 20 of the world's largest capitals - from Delhi to Jakarta to Buenos Aires - has risen 52% over the past three decades, a think tank analysis found on Friday. More than 300 million people live in the world's 20 most populous capital cities, where they are uniquely vulnerable to rising temperatures fueled by climate change, as asphalt and buildings absorb and retain heat.
Global hunger monitor says Sudan faces risk of famine in 14 areas
There is a risk of famine in 14 areas across Sudan if the conflict between military factions escalates further, a global hunger monitor said on Thursday.
Protecting 1.2% of Earth would prevent most extinctions, study says
Setting aside an additional 1.2% of the world's land as nature preserves would prevent the majority of predicted plant and animal extinctions and cost about $263 billion, according to a study published on Tuesday. The world is racing to meet a goal to protect 30% of the world by 2030 to protect wildlife that is being decimated by climate change, pollution and habitat destruction.
South Korea battery plant fire kills 22 people, most of them Chinese
A powerful explosion set on fire a lithium battery factory in South Korea on Monday, killing 22 workers, most of them Chinese nationals, local fire officials said.
-original-thumb.jpg)
Indian heatwaves, floods kill 11, with four buried alive
India was battling on Wednesday extreme weather that caused severe heatwaves, landslides and floods, killing at least 11 people this week, among them a woman and her three daughters buried alive in a northeastern state, officials and media said. The capital, New Delhi, sweltered through its hottest night in six years on Tuesday, with hospitals in the city of 20 million reporting at least five deaths from heatstroke this week, the Times of India newspaper said.
Thailand passes landmark bill recognising marriage equality
Thailand's Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law on Tuesday, paving the way for the country to become the third territory in Asia to recognise same-sex couples after Nepal and Taiwan.
