Morning news brief: Top Tory MP switches to Labour party; Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships; & more

In the latest,UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party member, DrDan Poulter, switched to Keir Starmer's Labour Party. DrPoulter stated that the Conservatives have turned into a "nationalist party of the right" and no longer prioritise the NHS. In other news, Iraq passed a new lawthat could put people in jail for up to 15 years just for being in a same-sex relationship. Separately, in the realm of India's Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India canceled the votes from six polling stations in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency and scheduled new elections for these stations on April 30.

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Major blow to Rishi Sunak as former health minister switches over to Labour Party

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In a major blow to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party, Tory MP and former health minister Dr Dan Poulter defected to Keir Starmer's Labour Party. Dr Poulter said that the Conservatives have become a “nationalist party of the right” that no longer prioritises the NHS or the National Health Service (NHS), which is a government-funded healthcare system in the United Kingdom that provides free services to almost the entire population, except for certain services.

Latest attack on Iraq's LGBTQ: Govt criminalises same-sex relationship with maximum 15-year jail term

Iraq on Saturday (Apr 27) passed a law that would criminalise same-sex relationshipswith a maximum 15-year prison sentence.Thiswas the latest attack on the LGBTQ community in the country. A report by the news agency Reuters said that the law, passed by parliament, aims to protect the Iraqi societyfrom moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that have overtaken the world.

Over 150 detained as pro-Palestine protests with 'virulent anti-Semitic slurs' grip US varsities

Police in the United States 'detained' more than 150 people, mostly students at two Universities on Saturday (April 27), in a show of heavy-handedness against pro-Palestinian protestors amid campus clashes triggered by Israel-Hamas war.

Red Sea Crisis: Yemen backed Houthi rebels claim they shot down US' MQ-9 reaper drone

Manipur: Election commission orders fresh voting across six polling stations

The Election Commission of India has declared the polls conducted at six polling stations in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency in northeastern India as null and void and announced fresh elections in these stations on April 30. The polling at these stations will be conducted separately as no phase of voting is scheduled for April 30 elsewhere in the country. The third of seven-phase voting is scheduled to be held on May 7th.