New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) The Australian government has cautioned Indian nationals who want to live permanently in Australia against organised contrived marriage scams targeting South Asians.

The warning came after Australian Border Force (ABF) shut down a contrived marriages syndicate operating out of Sydney, with a 32-year-old Indian national facing court over his alleged role as the main facilitator.

18 Nov 2018; DW: Sri Lanka is without a government and two prominent politicians are claiming to be prime ministers. Experts say the struggle reflects the geopolitical rivalry between China and India in South Asia.

12 Nov 2018; DW: Despite criticism from civil society, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has renamed a number of Indian cities. Experts say the drive could seriously dent India's secular image. Murali Krishnan reports from New Delhi.

Last week, the chief minister of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state renamed the city of Allahabad to Praygraj and and Faizabad to Ayodhya.

PARIS (AP) — For President Donald Trump in Paris, America First meant largely America alone.

At a weekend commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, the president who proudly declares himself a “nationalist” stood apart, even on a continent where his brand of populism is on the rise.

CAIRO (AP) — Airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen are on a pace to kill more civilians than last year, according to a database tracking violence in the country, despite the United States’ repeated claims that the coalition is taking precautions to prevent such bloodshed.

6 Nov 2018; DW: The midterm polls are the best chance for Democrats to influence the Trump administration's behavior on key issues, with the next US presidential election two years away. DW explains why.

Foreign policy

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Thousands of Central American migrants traveling in a caravan arrived in the Mexican capital Monday and began to fill up a sports stadium, still hundreds of miles from their goal of reaching the U.S. a day before midterm elections in which President Donald Trump has made their journey a central campaign issue.

4 Nov 2018; AA:The U.S. will reimpose on Monday more sanctions lifted under a 2015 nuclear pact world powers struck with Iran.

The new wave of sanctions, the second since August, will target Iran's energy, shipbuilding, shipping, and financial sectors.

The U.S. has been trickling out a list of 12 demands Iran must meet if it wants to see sanctions lifted ahead of their reimposition on Monday.

4 Nov 2018; AA: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has denounced as “illegal” a decision by Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro to relocate his country's embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem.

"The declaration was a flagrant violation of international law and of all relevant UN resolutions," the OIC said in a statement on Saturday.

The pan-Muslim body called on Brazil to embrace positions that support chances of making peace under the two-state solution.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In a city known for its Jewish population, the neighborhood was the faith’s spiritual heart and the synagogue a cornerstone of the community.

For generations, Squirrel Hill has been known as one of Pittsburgh’s most special enclaves, where the Tree of Life temple stood as a welcoming landmark. Residents marveled over their good fortune to live in a place that seemed open, accepting and secure.

“People always felt safe here,” said Jules Stein, a lifelong resident of Squirrel Hill who until recently belonged to Tree of Life. “In one day, that changed.”

DAMASCUS, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 70 fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been killed and 100 others wounded over the past 24 hours as a result of a counter-offensive by the extremist Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported Saturday.

The IS counter-offensive against the SDF has started on Friday and continued Saturday, during which the terror-designated group recaptured areas it had lost to the SDF during an ongoing military showdown in the last IS-held pocket in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria.

24 Oct 2018; DW: Should the Greens become the strongest party in Hesse's state elections, the result could be the nail in the coffin for Chancellor Angela Merkel's government. Leading the Greens in Hesse is Tarek al-Wazir. A portrait.