KARACHI, Pakistan (AA): Pakistan’s parliament has approved new anti-narcotics legislation, removing capital punishment for drug trafficking convicts. “Anti-narcotics bill passed, removing capital punishment,” Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar tweeted. The legislation “Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 2023” was passed during a...
DOHA, Qatar (AA): Qatar on Sunday appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after a years-long diplomatic rift, state media said. According to Qatar News Agency, Sultan Salmeen Saeed Al Mansouri was appointed as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the UAE by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Last month, Qatar an...
Freetown, Sierra Leone (AFP): The lives of young Sierra Leone’s young are mired in poverty and despair. “Kush” offers them relief — however, the nirvana is fleeting and carries a grim price. The recently-emerged drug is making terrible inroads among the young in Sierra Leone, a West African nation ranked among the world...
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA): About 9 out of 10 families in cash-strapped Lebanon do not have enough money to buy necessities, the United Nations children’s agency has said. “Families in Lebanon are barely able to meet their most basic needs despite cutting down drastically on expenses,” UNICEF said in a statement. “A growing number of families [&hell...
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA) – Christian parties in Lebanon raised objections on Wednesday against Hezbollah-backed presidential candidate Sleiman Frangieh. “We don’t accept blackmailing or threats,” Samy Gemayel, leader of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, told a press conference in the capital Beirut. He said their opposition to Frangieh’s candidacy aims t...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – A total of 585 students in Bangladesh committed suicide in 2022, according to a report that has been recently released in Dhaka. Of them, 340 and 106 were school and college students, respectively, 85 were university students and 54 were from madrassahs or Islamic seminaries. The statistics were revealed by the [...
Maizbhandar, Bangladesh (AFP): Many families in Bangladesh come to seek blessings from an elderly Bangladeshi mystic, considering themselves affected by “evil spirits” and “black magic.” Syed Emdadul Hoque conducts exorcisms but at the same time is helping to shatter taboos around mental health treatment in the South As...
GENEVA (AA) – The global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25% in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with young people the worst hit, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. A WHO report highlights those most affected by the pandemic and found that people with more severe mental […]
Schools in Indian-administered Kashmir reopened Wednesday after 31 months. Health professionals say mental health issues among children spiked during this period. Schools were first closed down due to the security situation arising from India’s revocation of Kashmir’s limited autonomy in August 2019. They remained closed later due to the restr...
GENEVA (AA) – The prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO has reported. A WHO report highlights those most affected by the pandemic and found that people with more severe mental disorders, such as psychoses, and young people with mental disorders, were particularly at [&he...
