Hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s day-long visit to West Bengal to attend the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, one of the biggest annual cultural festivals in the state, Mamata Banerjee’s government on May 8  banned the screening of the movie, ‘The Kerala Story’, across the state to avoid incidents of hatred.

Officials from the party of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan say he has been arrested as he appeared in a court in the capital, Islamabad, to face charges in multiple graft cases.

Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said the 72-year-old Khan was arrested on the premises of the court by agents from the country’s anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Bureau.

The European Union said  on May  8 it was cancelling its Europe Day reception in Tel Aviv after the extremist Israeli minister representing the government stood firm in his intention to participate.

In a statement, the EU delegation to Israel said it would still celebrate Europe Day on  May 9  but regretted that "this year we have decided to cancel the diplomatic reception, as we do not want to offer a platform to someone whose views contradict the values the European Union stands for."

Reports began emerging in Israeli media about the EU's discontent over National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's being the government representative to the Tel Aviv reception.

Ben-Gvir, who has a history of inflammatory remarks about Palestinians, was charged more than 50 times in his youth with incitement to violence or hate speech. He was convicted in 2007 of supporting a terrorist group and inciting racism.

Prominent Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga on May 8  won an appeal against an "inciting violence" conviction she received for staging a silent protest.

The award-winning author and filmmaker was given a 70,000 Zimbabwean dollar ($200) fine and a six-month suspended sentence in September over the small demonstration when she held up a sign calling for reform.

A High Court in Harare  has overturned the verdict saying it was erroneously reached, with the judge adding the full reasoning behind the decision would be released at a later stage.

A Belarusian man sentenced to jail over a satirical drawing of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has died behind bars.

Mikalai Klimovicz, a 61-year-old blogger and activist from southern Belarus, died while in prison in the northeastern city of Vitebsk, just two months into his sentence, the Viasna Human Rights Center said in a statement.

Klimovicz in February was sentenced to one year in jail for drawing a caricature of Lukashenko and sharing it on social media. He suffered multiple bouts of heart disease during his trial.

Public sector lender Canara Bank  has reported a 90.6% rise in net profit at Rs 3,175 crore for the quarter that ended March this year compared to Rs 16,66 crore in the same quarter the previous year driven by strong growth in interest income.

The bank’s net interest income or NII, which is the difference between interest earned and interest paid, rose 23% to Rs 8,616 crore during the quarter as compared to Rs 7,006 crore in the same quarter the previous year. The lender improved its asset quality over a year ago period as its gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio reduced to 5.35% as of Mar 2023 down from 5.89% as of December 2022, and from 7.51% as at Mar 2022.

Public sector lender Indian Bank  has reported a 47 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 1,447 crore for the March quarter, helped by a decline in bad loans and a healthy growth in interest income. During the quarter, the bank’s total income increased to Rs 14,238 crore against Rs 11,405 crore a year ago.

Interest income grew to Rs 12,244 crore during the quarter from Rs 9,832 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding financial year. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) were reduced to 5.95% of gross advances as of March 31, 2023, from 8.47% by the end of March 2022. Net NPAs also came down to 0.90% of the advances from 2.27% a year earlier.

Spain's young tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz has won the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award, becoming the fourth ATP Tour player after Marat Safin (2001), Rafael Nadal (2006) and Andy Murray (2013) to earn the honour.

The awards were announced  on May 9 at a ceremony in Paris. It is the second consecutive year a tennis player has won the award after Emma Raducanu did so in 2022.

Alcaraz's victory at the 2022 US Open and rise to the world No.1 spot saw him collect the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. He enjoyed a phenomenal 2022 in which he won the US Open and became tennis's youngest-ever men's No.1 player. The Spaniard turned 20 a few days before picking up his Laureus Statuette.