World

Vatican City, Feb 26: Pope Francis has quietly reduced sanctions against a handful of pedophile priests, applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders in ways that survivors of abuse and the pope's own advisers question. One case has come back to haunt him: An Italian priest who received the pope's clemency was later convicted by an Italian criminal court for his sex crimes

Washington, Feb 25: The White House excluded several major US news organisations, including some it has criticised, from an off-camera briefing held by the White House press secretary on Friday. Reporters for CNN, The New York Times, Politico, The Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed were not allowed into the session in the office of press secretary Sean Spicer. Spicer's off-camera briefing, or “gaggle

Washington, Feb 25: In an ideal world, an America of their dreams, they might have forged a start-up company called Kuchibhotla & Madasani. But a hateful moment in the American hinterland, spotty with prejudice, extinguished their dreams. Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Reddy Madasani conformed to the archetype Indian nerds taking a familiar route to the US. Finish undergrad engineering in India, go

Hyderabad, Feb 24: A pall of gloom descended on the residence of engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla at Bachupally here today when his parents and family learnt about his death after an American navy veteran yelling "terrorist" and "get out of my country" opened fire on him in the US. Srinivas Kuchibhotla (32), working at GPS-maker Garmin headquarters in Olathe, died of bullet injuries in hospital while

Houston, Feb 24: A 24-year-old American who is being hailed as a hero for trying to stop a shooter who killed an Indian in Kansas City, today said it was "actually the right thing to do". Ian Grillot hid behind a table when the 51-year-old gunman, Adam Purinton, started shooting hurling racial slurs following an altercation at Austins Bar and Grill killing an Indian techie and critically injuring

Feb 24: A British Muslim teacher planned to accompany his students on a school trip to the American city of New York, but little did he know that he would be denied entry to the United States. Juhel Miah, 25, a math teacher, was escorted off the flight by American officials, thinking he was singled out because of his religious affiliation. Miah was born in Birmingham and brought up in Swansea

Lahore, Feb 23: At least seven persons were killed and 20 others injured today in a powerful explosion that ripped through a building in a defence locality in this Pakistani city, the latest in a series of terror attacks in the country. Panic gripped the area a little before noon when the loud explosion resonated across Z-Block in Defence Housing Authority area in Lahore. "Seven persons have been

Feb 23: US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday revoked landmark guidance to public schools letting transgender students use the bathroom of their choice, reversing a signature initiative of former Democratic President Barack Obama. Obama had instructed public schools last May to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity, threatening to

Beijing, Feb 22: China and India today held their upgraded strategic dialogue to shore up bilateral ties amid hectic parleys to resolve differences over Beijing's reluctance to support India's NSG bid as well as a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar. Just before the dialogue, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Welcoming Jaishankar, co-chair of the

Washington, Feb 22: Millions of people living in the United States illegally could be targeted for deportation - including people simply arrested for traffic violations - under a sweeping rewrite of immigration enforcement policies announced Tuesday by the Trump administration. Any immigrant who is in the country illegally and is charged or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime