Author: admin@primenews

Nancy Pelosi and her long-time deputy Steny Hoyer have been ordered to leave their workspaces in the US Capitol by acting House Speaker Patrick McHenry. Both were told locks on their office doors will be “re-keyed” on Wednesday. The evictions come after Kevin McCarthy was removed from the chamber’s plum post on Tuesday and Mr McHenry was appointed in the interim. Mrs Pelosi, who is not currently in Washington, criticised the decision as “a sharp departure from tradition”. Republican Congressman Garret Graves announced on Wednesday that her office would be handed over to Mr McCarthy. He said it is supposed…

Indian authorities are racing against time to rescue people after flash floods in the northeastern state of Sikkim left 102 missing, including 22 army personnel. The state government said 14 people also died after a cloudburst over a lake triggered massive floods. Officials added that over 3,000 tourists were stranded in different parts of the state. Hundreds of search and rescue officers have been deployed across the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he spoke to Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Wednesday and assured him of all possible support. The state’s Lhonak lake breached its embankment on Tuesday night…

The cost of a certificate to own a large family car in Singapore has jumped to a fresh record high of S$146,002 ($106,619; £87,684). The city-state introduced the 10-year certificate of entitlement (COE) system in 1990 as an anti-congestion measure. Prospective car owners in Singapore must have a COE in order to be able to purchase a vehicle. They are sold in auctions every two weeks, with the government controlling the number of certificates for sale. With taxes and import duties, the system has made Singapore the most expensive country in the world to buy a car. For example, a…

When Taiwan raised the alarm last month over a record number of Chinese fighter jets crossing the unofficial border between them, Beijing said that line did not exist. The 103 fighter jets that China flew near Taiwan – 40 of which entered the island’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) – were yet another escalation in Chinese war games. Beijing, which has long claimed Taiwan, has in the past year repeatedly rehearsed encircling the self-ruled island with fighter jets and navy ships. The military drills have taken an especially menacing turn in light of China’s vows to “reunite” with Taiwan. So…

On 14 October, Australia will vote in a historic referendum that cuts to the core of how it sees itself as a nation. If successful, the proposal – known as the Voice – will recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution, while creating a body for them to advise governments on the issues affecting their communities. Yes advocates say it’s a “modest yet profound” change that will allow Indigenous Australians to take “a rightful place” in their own country – which has often dragged its heels confronting its past. But those campaigning against it describe it as…

The US has sent roughly 1.1 million bullets seized from Iran last year to Ukraine, its military has said. The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, says the rounds were confiscated from a ship bound for Yemen in December. Ukraine’s Western allies recently warned that their production lines were struggling to keep up with the rate at which Ukraine was using ammunition. Centcom says the Iranian rounds were transferred to Ukraine on Monday. The munitions were originally seized by US naval forces from a stateless ship named MARWAN 1 on 9 December, it said. The US government…

Pakistan has ordered all unauthorised Afghan asylum seekers – an estimated 1.7 million people – to leave the country by November. A spike in attacks along the two countries’ border, which Islamabad blames on Afghanistan-based operatives, has escalated tensions this year. It has also fuelled resentment in Islamabad, which on Tuesday announced a crackdown on “illegal” migrants. The Taliban government urged Pakistan to rethink its “unacceptable” move. Afghanistan’s rulers have repeatedly denied providing refuge for militants who target Pakistan. Last week, a blast at a mosque in Mastung city, near the border with Afghanistan, killed at least 50 people during a religious…

A small boat carrying 280 migrants has landed in Spain’s Canary Islands. The vessel arrived on the remote island of El Hierro, some 380km (238 miles) off Africa’s western coast, on Tuesday. Rescue workers said those onboard were of sub-Saharan African origin and it was the largest number of migrants ever to arrive in the archipelago in one go. The crossing to the Canary Islands is one of the most commonly used and dangerous routes to Europe for migrants from Africa. “I’ve never seen a boat with so many people on board,” journalist and former migration adviser Txema Santana said on…

A female teenage soldier is believed to have taken her own life after relentless sexual harassment by one of her bosses, an Army investigation has found. Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire in December 2021. A service inquiry report, seen by the BBC, describes “an intense period of unwelcome behaviour”. “It is almost certain this was a causal factor in her death,” the report found. The behaviour from her immediate boss, continued over a period of two months preceding her death, says the report, which is due to be published at noon…

A photo of two Chinese female athletes that made an inadvertent reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre has been censored on Chinese social media. The race numbers for Lin Yuwei and Wu Yanni form ’64’ – a common allusion to the incident which happened on June 4. Discussions of the incident remain taboo in China, with authorities routinely scrubbing any mention of the topic from the internet. In 1989, troops shot dead hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing. It remains unclear how many people actually died that day, but human rights groups’ estimates range from several hundred to several thousand…