Four tourists, including two women, have been jailed after being charged with trying to smuggle a hallucinogeic drug, methamphetamine, into New Zealand, customs authorities said on Monday.


Four tourists jailed after drug bust in New Zealand


IANS Automatic

Visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised the result of Ireland's marriage equality referendum, describing it as "truly historic moment".


UN chief praises Ireland's marriage equality referendum


When Mumbai-based Harish Iyer's mother Padma placed a matrimonial advertisement in a Mumbai tabloid for her gay son, she never thought it would generate a debate across and outside the country.


Matrimonial ad for gay son stirs lively debate (Feature, With Images)


A police officer in Cleveland, Ohio, was acquitted by a judge for the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects, both black, after police chased the victims' car on November 2012.


US white cop acquitted in killing of black couple


Those voting  "Yes" took a comfortable lead on Saturday in Ireland's referendum on same-sex marriages held on Friday.


Ireland moving towards same-sex marriage


The Pakistani authorities on Saturday executed four convicts in jails across Punjab province.


Pakistan executes four convicts


At least 1,037 civilians have been killed between March 26 and May 20 in Yemen as a result of widespread and protracted violence affecting the country, a UN agency said on Friday.


Civilian toll rises amid Yemen's worsening humanitarian situation


The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday moved the Delhi High Court, challenging a court's verdict in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case acquitting 16 police personnel accused of killing 42 Muslim men in Meerut.


Hashimpura massacre: UP appeals against 16 policemen's acquittal


The Rajasthan High Court on Friday ordered all base towers for fourth generation (4G) telecom services erected without permission from the city authorities to be removed. Reliance Jio, the respondents, said their towers meet and exceed all the norms.


Rajasthan High Court bars new 4G towers


In a breather to over 1,700 structures that are allegedly encroaching upon the area within five metres of Parkota heritage wall in Jaipur, the Supreme Court on Friday said  those structure would not be pulled down till July 10.


SC breather for over 1,700 encroaching structures in Jaipur


A special court on Friday told the CBI to file the progress report on further investigation in a coal block allocation case allegedly involving Rajya Sabha parliamentarian Vijay Darda and AMR Iron and Steel.


Court seeks progress report in coal case against AMR


Bangkok, May 22 (IANS/EFE) The Myanmar authorities have launched the first naval operation to save an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 migrants stranded in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, media reported on Friday.


Myanmar launches naval operation to save stranded migrants


The supreme Court Friday issued notice to Himachal government on the plea by the tourist taxi operators operating between Manali and Rohtang challenging the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order restricting their operation to just 1,000 taxis per day coupled with an environmental compensation charge.


SC notice to Himachal on NGT cap on Manali-Rohtang tourist vehicles


Former union minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao on Friday told a court here that the decisions about allocating Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to two firms were taken by then prime minister Manmohan Singh.


Manmohan Singh allocated coal block to Jindal firms: Rao


A New York woman who said she hates Hindus and killed a Hindu man by pushing him under a metro train has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, a local has prosecutor announced.


New York woman jailed for 24 years for bias killing of Hindu


A court here on Friday granted bail to industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and eight others in a case relating to the allocation of coal blocks.


Court grants bail to Jindal, Koda Rao in coal block allocation case


Making it clear that the government did not believe in retrospective taxation, and had also taken action in the matter, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said past cases will be decided by the judicial process, even as it will await suggestions from an expert panel.


Judicial process will settle retro tax matter: Jaitley


An Indian national along with two other people was charged with conspiracy to trick distressed homeowners into selling their residences and reaping millions of dollars through the fraud.


Indian national charged with fraud in New York


Myanmar's navy on Friday handed over to the country's western Rakhine State government 208 Bangladeshi nationals who were found drifting at sea on a migrant boat.


Myanmar state handed over more than 200 boat people


Polling stations in the Republic of Ireland opened their doors on Friday morning to some three million voters who will decide on the legalisation of same-sex marriage in a nation-wide referendum.


Same-sex marriage referendum starts in Ireland


A London cab driver has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years for the murder of a US soldier in a roadside bombing in Iraq in 2007, media reported on Friday.

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