Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, has rebuffed Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could be an exception to Trump’s proposed policy to ban all Muslims from travelling to the United States.   Khan, the capital’s first Muslim mayor, said the call by the presumptive Republican nominee for president for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US was something that directly affected…

Presumptive US Republican nominee Donald Trump has said taxes for rich people may have to go up in an apparent reversal of his stated policy. “On my plan they’re going down. But by the time it’s negotiated, they’ll go up,” Mr Trump told ABC’s This Week. He also apparently reversed his position on the minimum wage, telling the programme: “I’m allowed…

Australia’s immigration minister says a group of asylum seekers whoreached the country’s Cocos Islands territory last week has been sent back to Sri Lanka. The vessel, carrying 12 people, came within 500m of Home Island. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the asylum seekers, all Sri Lankans, were returned on 6 May. He also announced that Australia had intercepted three asylum boats…

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced six people to death, including two Al Jazeera journalists, who were accused of leaking state secrets to Qatar.   The case of jailed former President Mohamed Morsi, who is also charged for espionage for Qatar, was however, adjourned.   The judgement will either be approved or reduced in June after consultations with Egypt’s mufti, the highest…

Labour's Sadiq Khan has vowed to do all in his power to make London "better", as he was sworn in as the new mayor.   Referring to his council estate roots, Mr Khan, the city's first Muslim mayor, said he wanted all Londoners to have the same opportunities he has had.   It comes as Defence Secretary Michael Fallon defended Conservative Zac Goldsmith's campaign, describing…

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has removed the country's veteran oil minister as part of a broad government overhaul.   Ali al-Naimi has been replaced after more than 20 years in the role by former health minister Khaled al-Falih.   Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, unveiled major economic reforms in April, aimed at ending the country's dependence on oil.  …

Washington, United States : President Barack Obama called Friday for Donald Trump's White House bid -- and his past record -- to be held up to close scrutiny as he warned the US presidency was not a "reality show." "We are in serious times and this is a really serious job. This is not entertainment," Obama told reporters when asked about the presumptive Republican nominee,…

Saudi police shot dead two suspected "terrorists" and two others blew themselves up during a raid near the holy city of Makkah on Thursday, the interior ministry said.   "The terrorists started shooting towards security, which they responded to", leading to the deaths of a pair of suspects while the others "committed suicide by blowing themselves up with suicide belts",…

At least 28 people, including women and children, were killed Thursday in air strikes on a displaced camp in northern Syria near the Turkish border, a monitor said.   Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, said the strikes which also left 50 people wounded targeted the camp near Sarmada in Idlib province, which is controlled by Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra…

MUMBAI: A Mumbai teenager who had been suffering from a rare genetic disease that causes the body to age eight times faster than normal has died.   Fifteen-year-old Nihal Bitla was the face of India's awareness campaign against progeria.   Bitla made headlines while trying to locate 60 other Indian progeria sufferers to participate in a clinical trial in Boston with him.   He ran…

In a stunning triumph for a political outsider, Donald Trump all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a resounding victory in Indiana that knocked rival Ted Cruz out of the race and cleared Trump's path to a likely November face-off with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Trump still needs about 200 delegates to formally secure the nomination, but Cruz's decision…

Several lawmakers were injured in fisticuffs inside Sri Lanka's Parliament on Tuesday after a protest over the removal of military security for former President Mahinda Rajapakasa. One lawmaker was hospitalized. The fracas occurred after the session commenced following an argument between opposition and government lawmakers over the removal of army soldiers from the security of the former president.…

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has accused China of "raping" the US, in renewed criticism of China's trade policy.   He told a rally in Indiana that China was responsible for "the greatest theft in the history of the world".   Mr Trump, a billionaire businessman, has long accused China of manipulating its currency to make its exports more competitive…