NEW DELHI: India’s top court allowed a podcaster charged with obscenity to resume airing his shows on the condition they met standards of “morality and decency,” relaxing on Monday its previous order that the program should stop until further notice.
Popular fitness influencer and podcaster Ranveer Allahabadia, known by his moniker BeerBiceps, was accused of obscenity over remarks he made on a YouTube show, drawing multiple police complaints.
A two-judge Supreme Court bench was, on Monday, hearing Allahabadia’s request that all the cases be bundled into one.
“Subject to the petitioner furnishing an undertaking... that his own podcast shows will maintain the standards of decency and morality, so that viewers of any age group can watch, the petitioner is permitted to resume ‘The Ranveer Show’,” the court said.
The 31-year-old, who has nearly 20 million subscribers on two YouTube channels, has hosted Bollywood stars, businessmen and ministers on the widely watched podcast.
Supreme Court Judge Surya Kant also said that the show was being permitted to resume “since livelihood of 280 employees” depended on its telecast.
The court, however, barred Allahabadia from airing any shows that could have a “bearing” on merits of the case.
Allahabadia’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for a comment on Monday’s order, which came nearly a fortnight after the court asked him to stop airing shows.
The podcaster last year shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a social media stars’ event.
“India’s Got Latent,” the show on which Allahabadia made the comments, involves a team of comedians judging newcomers’ stand-up comedy.
India does not censor online platforms such as Google-owned YouTube but remains a largely conservative society in which many espouse family and religious values, prompting complaints about shows seen as transgressing decency norms.
Indian podcaster charged with obscenity can resume shows if moral standards met, top court says
https://arab.news/w6hjs
Indian podcaster charged with obscenity can resume shows if moral standards met, top court says
- Ranveer Allahabadia, known by his moniker BeerBiceps, was charged over his objectionable comments on a YouTube show
- The 31-year-old podcaster, with 20 million YouTube subscribers, has hosted Bollywood stars, businessmen and ministers
US revokes foreign terrorist designation for Syria’s HTS
- The move comes a week after Trump signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions program on Syria
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation for Al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, according to a State Department memo filed on Monday, a major step as Washington moves to ease sanctions on Syria.
The June 23 dated memo was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and was published in a preview of the Federal Register before official publication on Tuesday.
The move comes a week after Trump signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions program on Syria, to help end the country’s isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington’s pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war.
“In consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I hereby revoke the designation of Al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” Rubio wrote in the memo.
Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, was previously Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, or Nusra Front. In December, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa led the HTS which together with other Islamist rebels conducted a lightning offensive that ousted Syria’s former president Bashar Assad.
Sharaa’s HTS severed Al-Qaeda ties years ago and says it wants to build an inclusive and democratic Syria.
Syria’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment.
Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May where, in a major policy shift, Trump unexpectedly announced he would lift US sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its measures.
Afghanistan faces new crisis as hundreds of thousands forced back from Iran
- International Organization for Migration estimates 450,000 Afghans returned from Iran since June
- Iranian authorities set in March a July 6 deadline for 4 million undocumented Afghan nationals to leave
KABUL: Ahmad Nazir had nothing with him except his work clothes when he reached the Islam Qala border crossing and entered Afghanistan, forced, like hundreds of thousands of others, to suddenly leave Iran.
Nazir, 24, has worked at a restaurant in Tehran for the past four years. He arrived at Islam Qala — part of the main route connecting Afghanistan’s Herat and Iran’s Mashhad — on July 6, which was the deadline that Iranian authorities set for undocumented Afghans to leave.
“Two days ago, the Iranian police took me from the restaurant and put me on a bus to Islam Qala. I came with nothing but my work clothes,” he told Arab News.
A native of the central Parwan province — some 600 km from Herat — Nazir is now waiting for his family to help him return home.
He is one of nearly 450,000 Afghans who returned to the country since June, according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration and local nongovernmental organizations helping the returnees.
“Approximately 30,000 Afghans are returning from Iran each day through the Islam Qala border crossing, and most are forcibly deported. They include both undocumented refugees and Afghans with legal documents,” said Abdul Fatah Jawad, director of the Ehsas Welfare and Social Services Organization, which is providing help in Herat province.
“Most families arriving at the Islam Qala border crossing have no tents, forcing many to improvise makeshift shelters to shield themselves and their children from the scorching sun. They wait in these harsh conditions for their turn to receive limited cash assistance before continuing on to their home provinces.”
Many have nowhere to go as they moved to Iran decades ago with their whole families. Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, which have vowed to support all those returning, do not have the means and funding to do so.
“The people of Herat have shown tremendous support, offering food and transportation to returning families,” Jawad said.
“Ehsas is providing cooked meals and water to up to 3,000 people each day, but this support is far from sufficient given the scale of new arrivals. A significantly broader and more urgent response is needed from the government, international organizations, and those with the means to contribute. This is a humanitarian crisis of much greater magnitude.”
The exodus from Iran is worsening a crisis caused by a similar deportation drive that has been underway in Pakistan since last year.
The two countries have hosted millions of Afghans fleeing war and poverty at home for the past 40 years. Official estimates suggest that over 4 million Afghan nationals were living in Pakistan, while in Iran, the figure is around 6 million, with 4 million believed to be undocumented.
In 2025 alone, more than 900,000 Afghan refugees and migrants have been forced to leave both countries, pushing local systems to the brink of collapse and jeopardizing access to vital services for both returnees and the communities that host them.
While many Afghans have fled the Israeli bombing of Iranian cities in mid-June, the directive for undocumented migrants to depart voluntarily has been in place since March. Iranian authorities ordered them to comply by July 6 or face deportation.
Many of those returning through Islam Qala, the main border crossing, are completely unprepared to move. Some were born in Iran and have never lived in Afghanistan.
Islamuddin Momini, a university lecturer from Herat who joined a convoy delivering aid to the returnees in Islam Qala, said the situation was “extremely grim,” with many people arriving visibly traumatized.
“They are living in a state of psychological shock, compounded by severe shortages of food, water, and shelter,” Momini told Arab News.
“Upon returning to their home provinces, returnees will face a new set of challenges, including limited access to employment, education, and livelihood opportunities.
Addressing these medium to long-term needs requires comprehensive support systems to facilitate their reintegration into society — an especially difficult task amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis and prevailing restrictions.”
Hundreds more asylum-seekers found near Crete
- Migrants are largely believed to be sailing from Libya, prompting a visit by Greece’s FM George Gerapetritis to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar
- PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced that two Greek navy ships will be deployed outside Libyan waters to stem the flow
ATHENS: Greece’s coast guard on Monday said it had rescued around 230 asylum seekers near the island of Crete, after hundreds more landed over the weekend.
An EU border agency Frontex vessel initially spotted the migrants inside two inflatable boats off Gavdos, a small island southwest of Crete that has seen increased migrant traffic in recent months.
On Sunday, the Greek coast guard rescued over 600 asylum seekers in various operations in the area.
AFP pictures showed some of them landing near Agia Galini beach on the south of Crete, where many tourists were bathing.
According to the coast guard, 7,300 asylum seekers have reached Gavdos and Crete this year, compared to fewer than 5,000 last year.
Over 2,500 arrivals have been recorded since June alone.
With Gavdos lacking any significant accommodation facilities, all the migrants are either housed in municipal buildings or transferred to Crete.
The migrants are largely believed to be sailing from Libya, prompting a visit by Greece’s foreign minister George Gerapetritis to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar on Sunday.
Gerapetritis is also scheduled to hold talks with the UN-recognized government in Tripoli on July 15.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also raised the issue with EU counterparts in Brussels last month.
Mitsotakis has announced that two Greek navy ships will be deployed outside Libyan waters to stem the flow.
The North African country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.
UN seeks breakthrough in Cyprus peace talks
- Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Turkish invasion followed a coup in Nicosia backed by Greece’s then-military junta
Nicosia: The United Nations is pushing for a breakthrough when Cyprus’s rival leaders meet in New York next week for a renewed attempt to revive stalled peace talks, an UN envoy said Monday.
Maria Angela Holguin held separate meetings with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, crossing the island’s UN-patrolled ceasefire line in a day of shuttle diplomacy.
“All this effort the UN is doing is for the prosperity of the island, so that the people have a better life,” Holguin, who was appointed the UN envoy to Cyprus earlier this year, told reporters after meeting Tatar.
“And we continue to work, the commitment of the UN is totally for that, so we hope the leaders can think about that, and we have results next week.”
The meetings are part of preparations for talks in New York on July 16-17, where UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to meet both leaders.
They follow a meeting in Geneva in March, which marked the first meaningful progress in years.
At that gathering, both sides agreed on a set of confidence-building measures, including opening more crossing points across the divide, cooperating on solar energy, and removing land mines — steps Guterres described as reflecting a “new atmosphere” and renewed urgency.
“I hope we are going to have many advances on the measures they decided in March,” said Holguin.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Turkish invasion followed a coup in Nicosia backed by Greece’s then-military junta. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, declared in 1983, is recognized only by Ankara.
The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, controls the island’s majority Greek Cypriot south.
The last major round of peace talks collapsed in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in July 2017.
‘Bay of Bengal live’: Bangladeshi fishermen go viral showing life at sea
- Fishermen-turned-influencers have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media
- Content focuses on fishing techniques, daily life on the boats, and marine life
DHAKA: When Shahid Sardar started his Facebook page four years ago, he wanted to share his experience aboard a fishing boat. He did not expect the millions of views he would soon attract as he tapped into a content niche that is rapidly gaining popularity among Bangladeshis: life at sea.
Sardar, 35, lives with his wife and son in the coastal Chittagong district in south-eastern Bangladesh. He started to work as a fisherman in 2013, after leaving a job at a hospital canteen in the capital, Dhaka.
As the chief cook on a vessel with a 50-member crew, Sardar sails across the Bay of Bengal on month-long voyages in search of fish. When his videos documenting deep-sea fishing methods and daily life on the boat began gaining traction, he expanded his content to show various marine species found in Bangladeshi waters — many of which are not widely known.
“I think people generally enjoy fish, especially the kinds caught at sea, which are not usually found in local markets,” Sardar told Arab News.
“The beauty of the deep sea also draws people to my videos. For most viewers, these sights are rare and unfamiliar. They don’t have this experience themselves.”
Posting as BD Fisherman on Facebook, he has more than 360,000 followers. His other account, Fisherman Shahid, has another 240,000.
When two of his videos went viral in December 2023, Facebook approved monetization for his page.
“My first video that went viral showed a bulk of yellowfin tuna and some shrimp. The fish were just dropped on the deck ... it was the rainy season. People liked that video a lot. Within 24 hours, it got 3 million views,” he said.
“As I started receiving some money from the videos, I became more motivated to keep uploading and people started liking my videos more and more.”
He now earns an average of about $500 a month from his two pages. That is in addition to his salary of $120 per voyage, plus bonuses based on the catch — about 60 cents per tonne of fish sold in the market.
“In my locality, everyone knows me as Fisherman Shahid. Wherever I go, people come to me just to know how they can earn through making videos and posting them on social media platforms,” Sardar said. “Recently, the friends of my 7th-grader son also visited my home to learn about my video making.”
While for fellow fishers, Sardar’s content has been an inspiration to start their own pages, for some other followers, like Zaved Ahmed, a Bangladeshi migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, watching his videos is a reminder of his own roots.
“I was born in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal area of Bangladesh, and fishing was our family’s profession. Since 2023, I have been living in Jeddah, which is on the coast of the Red Sea. It seems that sea life is something in my blood. That’s why I love watching Sardar’s videos,” he said.
“Whenever I watch his videos, my mind travels to the sea with the fishing boat, as if I were experiencing it with my own eyes.”
But most of those who follow Sardar and other fishermen-influencers have never experienced life at sea.
Watching it on their mobile or laptop screens helps them connect with the sector that each year contributes about 3.5 percent to Bangladesh’s GDP and is the main source of animal protein in the Bangladeshi diet.
“I think most people generally love the sea, but they don’t have the opportunity to witness the mysteries of the deep sea,” said Karimul Maola, a follower of Sardar from Chittagong.
“Through Sardar’s videos, I’ve learned about many seafish that were previously unknown to me. Also, his videos have given me some idea about how a fishing vessel normally operates — something most people don’t know about.”
There is a similar sentiment among the followers of other Bangladeshi fishermen who have shot to social media fame.
On the page of Ehsanul Haque Shaon, a fisherman who has 172,000 followers on Facebook, one follower says watching his video was “like the Bay of Bengal live in front of my eyes!” while another says in amazement that watching the content made them realize that “life is very interesting.”
“How we survive on a boat in the Bay of Bengal,” a video on Fishiib, a YouTube channel focusing on showing the life of fishermen in the Bay of Bengal, has received more than 10 million views in six months.
“I am truly amazed by how these fishermen adapt to life at sea. They face constant challenges like harsh weather and limited resources, yet they find ways to survive and thrive,” one viewer said.
“Their resilience and ability to work together as a community is truly inspiring. It’s a glimpse into a way of life that most of us can only imagine.”
