Author: Disha Mishra

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a boost to a female Oklahoma death row inmate who claimed her 2004 conviction for murdering her estranged husband was tainted by what her lawyers called “sexist stereotyping” by prosecutors who presented to the jury evidence about her sex life and revealing clothing. The justices in an unsigned ruling threw out a lower court’s decision rejecting inmate Brenda Andrew’s claim that her right to due process under the U.S. Constitution was violated by the type of prosecution evidence admitted during her trial. Her lawyers had called the evidence irrelevant and prejudicial. She was…

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear Republican former Iowa congressman Steve King’s bid to avoid paying a small judgment for having used without permission an internet meme – the “Success Kid” photo of a determined-looking 11-month-old baby at the beach – to promote his 2020 reelection campaign. The justices turned away King’s appeal of a lower court’s decision upholding a jury’s verdict that his election campaign organization owed Laney Griner, the mother of boy shown in the copyrighted photo, $750 for posting the image in campaign ads. The 2007 photo of little Sammy Griner became a popular…

Hamas released three Israeli hostages and Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the first day of a ceasefire suspending a 15-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East. The truce allowed Palestinians to return to bombed-out neighborhoods to begin rebuilding their lives, while relief trucks delivered much-needed aid. Elsewhere in Gaza, crowds cheered Hamas fighters who emerged from hiding. Fireworks were launched in celebration as buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah on the West Bank, where thousands of people waited to welcome them. Those freed from Israeli prisons included 69 women and…

Los Angeles officials told most evacuees from the wildfires on Thursday to stay away from their homes at least another week as emergency responders remove toxic waste from incinerated neighborhoods and cut off electricity and gas lines posing a hazard amid the ruins. Landslides further endangered the devastated hillsides, where leveled structures no longer hold earth in place and water from fire hoses and broken pipes has saturated the ground, adding more stress and heartache to people suffering the worst natural disaster in Los Angeles history. With wildfires burning for a 10th day, firefighters expressed relief over withstanding recent red…

(Reuters) – Israel on Saturday approved a ceasefire deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas that involves release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces struck in the enclave before the agreement’s scheduled start on Sunday. The agreement is set to halt a 15-month-old war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers Hamas that has decimated the Gaza Strip, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destabilised the Middle East. The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than…

(Reuters) – India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM.NS), on Saturday reported a 10% rise in quarterly profit as it boosted lending, although provisions for potential bad loans surged. The Mumbai-based private lender’s standalone net profit – which excludes earnings from its subsidiaries – rose to 33.05 billion rupees ($382 million) in the three months to end-December, in line with an LSEG consensus estimate. Its net interest income, the difference between what a bank earns on loans and pays out on deposits, rose 10% to 71.96 billion rupees. The net interest margin shrank to 4.93% from 5.22% a year earlier, but was…

(Reuters) – An Indian police volunteer was convicted on Saturday of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a hospital in the eastern city Kolkata, in the speedy trial of a crime that sparked national outrage over a lack of safety for women. The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Aug. 9. Other doctors stayed off work for weeks to demand justice for her and better security at public hospitals. Defendant Sanjay Roy said in November he was “completely innocent” and was being framed. He reiterated…

(Reuters) – Armed conflict is the top risk in 2025, a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday showed, a reminder of the deepening global fragmentation as government and business leaders attend an annual gathering in Davos next week. Nearly one in four of the more than 900 experts surveyed across academia, business and policymaking ranked conflict, including wars and terrorism, as the most severe risk to economic growth for the year ahead. Extreme weather, the no. 1 concern in 2024, was the second-ranked danger. “Rising geopolitical tensions and a fracturing of trust are driving the global risk landscape,”…

(Reuters) – Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, the frontrunner to become Germany’s nextc, said the second presidency of Donald Trump would bring clarity for the European Union as he hosted conservative EU heavyweights in Berlin. “I think Trump is very predictable,” Merz said at a press conference alongside Manfred Weber, head of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), the biggest lawmaker group in the European Parliament. “In this respect, I think we can prepare ourselves for the fact that there will be a lot more clarity in the coming weeks and months and that there will of course also be many…

(Reuters) – TikTok buzzed with nervous anticipation across the U.S. on Saturday as a looming federal ban threatened to sever access to the Chinese-owned app that has captivated nearly half of all Americans, powered small businesses and shaped online culture. The company said late Friday that it will go dark in the United States on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration provides assurances to companies like Apple and Google that they will not face enforcement actions when a ban takes effect. The ban would be enacted under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April and mark the first…