(Al Jazeera Media Network) India’s top examinations for admissions into medical schools and research programs have come under unprecedented scrutiny amid mounting evidence of corruption and paper leaks, leaving the future of more than three million students hanging in the balance.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body under India’s Ministry of Education that is responsible for holding the nationwide examinations, is at the centre of these controversies over the integrity of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) President Vladimir Putin said that Russia might supply weapons to North Korea in what he suggested would be a mirror response to the West's arming of Ukraine.
Putin was speaking to reporters in Vietnam on Thursday, a day after visiting nuclear-armed North Korea and signing a mutual defence agreement with its leader, Kim Jong Un.
Western countries have shunned North Korea because of its development of nuclear and ballistic missiles in defiance of United...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russian President Vladimir Putin flew to Vietnam on Wednesday night after a day trip to North Korea, for a visit to an old ally that has positioned itself as an increasingly influential geopolitical player, wooed by most major nations.
The visit to Vietnam, among other things, is Russia’s way of showcasing that while Putin is treated as a pariah by the West, he still holds political clout in the East. Communist-led Vietnam...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticized the administration of US President Joe Biden for “withholding weapons” to Israel in recent months as it presses its war on Gaza.
Netanyahu said in a video statement on Tuesday that it was “inconceivable” that the United States had been “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel” in recent months.
“Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States surgeon general has called on Congress to require social media platforms to carry warning labels on their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.
In a Monday opinion piece in The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.
“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) South Korea’s military has said between 20 and 30 North Korean soldiers crossed the border between the two countries early on Tuesday, but returned after South Korean forces fired warning shots.
The incident took place at about 8.30 a.m. (23:30 GMT on Monday) when a group of North Korean soldiers in the central part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) crossed the military demarcation line, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint...
(BBC News) When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? According to the Israeli army, when it is a “local, tactical pause of military activity for humanitarian purposes.”
Israel’s humanitarian aid coordinator for Gaza set out the details of the scheduled daily pause in fighting between 08:00 and 19:00 local time, along a key route running north from the Kerem Shalom crossing point, where aid is waiting to be delivered.
The announcement almost immediately triggered a furious political...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russian special forces have freed two prison guards and killed several men who had taken them hostage at a pre-trial detention centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
The two guards were taken hostage by six detainees earlier on Sunday, the prison service said, before an operation was launched to free them, Russian media reported.
Initially, the prison service said it had entered into negotiations for the guards’ release. But a short...
(BBC News) The leaders of Italy and Germany have strongly rejected ceasefire terms laid out by Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine, as scores of countries gathered at a two-day summit in Switzerland to discuss ending the conflict.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the Russian president's plan "propaganda" which effectively suggested that Ukraine "must withdraw from Ukraine".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed it as a "dictatorial peace".
A draft declaration issued at the summit...
(BBC News) US officials have played down Wednesday's arrival of four Russian naval vessels in Cuba for military drills.
The visit of the vessels – which include a nuclear-powered submarine and a frigate – has been seen as a show of force amid Moscow's tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine.
They are anchored at Havana Bay, about 145 km from the US state of Florida.
"We of course take it seriously, but these exercises don't...
