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Countries signed their first United Nations (UN) treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi on Saturday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to strengthen international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries were seen to sign the declaration on Saturday, which means it will go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone”, but that it was “only the beginning”. “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy… We need a strong, connected global response,” he said at the opening ceremony in Vietnam’s capital on Saturday. The UN Convention against Cybercrime was first proposed by Russian diplomats in 2017, and approved by consensus last year after lengthy negotiation...

More rain is expected in the coming days across Punjab as surveys to assess the losses and damages from the recent floods are underway, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director General Irfan Ali Kathia said on Saturday. Since June, monsoon rains across Pakistan have killed at least 1,037 people, swelling major rivers and devastating rural communities along their banks. In Punjab only, over 4.7 million people have been affected across 4,700 villages, according to the PDMA. Addressing a media briefing in Lahore today, DG Kathia said showers were expected to begin early tomorrow morning across Punjab, and continue till October 7 (Tuesday) in the northern parts. The PDMA chief said the north and northeastern regions from Rawalpindi to Lahore were likely to receive 30 to 35 millimetres of rainfall on average, while the province’s southern parts could see 5 to 10mm. He warned that the intensity of the showers would increase on October 6 and 7, with 50 to 70mm of rain anticipated in northern and nort...

More than one in every 100 deaths globally is due to suicide, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday, calling for urgent action to stem a mounting mental health crisis among young people, especially. The WHO said that, while global suicide rates had fallen somewhat in recent years, progress in combating the issue was far too slow. In 2021— the last year for which data was available — there were an estimated 727,000 suicides worldwide, the United Nations’ health agency said. “Globally, suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths, and for each death, there are 20 suicide attempts,” said Devora Kestel, the interim head of the WHO’s non-communicable disease and mental health department. Those suicides “affected countless more lives and livelihoods, as friends, carers and loved ones were forced to grapple with unimaginable hardship”, she told reporters. The WHO’s World Mental Health Today report highlighted that suicide remains a leading cause of death among young people across geographies and socio...

More than 360 people fell ill in Indonesia’s town of Sragen in Central Java after consuming school lunches, an official said on Thursday, in the largest food poisoning case to hit President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme. Since its launch in January, the free school meals programme has been marred by mass food poisoning cases across the archipelago, affecting over 1,000 people. Sragen government chief Sigit Pamungkas told Reuters that 365 people fell ill and a food sample was being tested in a lab. The government would pay for any medical treatment if needed. Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth grader at Gemolong 1 middle school, told Reuters he was woken at night by sharp pain in his stomach. He had a headache and diarrhoea, which he deduced had been caused by food poisoning after seeing schoolmates’ social media posts complaining of the same. The likely contaminated lunch was turmeric rice, omelette ribbons, fried tempeh, cucumber and lettuce salad, sliced apple and a box of milk, cooked in a c...

London: More than 220 British MPs, including dozens from the ruling Labour party, demanded Friday that the UK government formally recognise a Palestinian state, further increasing pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The call, in a letter signed by lawmakers from nine UK political parties, came less than 24 hours after French President Emmanuel Macron […]