MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic was drawn Thursday to play fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of the Australian Open despite ongoing uncertainty over whether he will still be in the country. The world number one, top seed and defending champion is looking to clinch a 10th title at Melbourne Park starting next week and a record … Read more
KATHMANDU – Kathmandu’s Bir Hospital, the largest in Nepal which was converted into a COVID-19 hospital, has witnessed growing hospitalizations in the past week. Meanwhile, major hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley all face rising hospitalizations along with surging daily infections since the start of the new year. HOSPITALIZATIONS, TESTS GROWING Bir Hospital had 41 COVID-19 … Read more
Actress Sarah Khan and her little Alyana are treating fans with their loved-up clicks and leave fans swooning over them. Turning to her Instagram after the event, the Raqs-e-Bismil star shared her few clicks with her bundle of joy, displaying a bright smile. “Mama Ki Jaan,” she captioned the post followed by a heart emoji. … Read more
MELBOURNE: Australia was poised Thursday to decide if it will deport Novak Djokovic following a sensational legal battle over the tennis superstar’s arrival in the country without a Covid-19 vaccine. The 34-year-old world number one’s hopes of a record 21st Grand Slam were in peril after he admitted breaking isolation rules in Serbia and to an incorrect … Read more
Despite having a quiet presence on Instagram over the previous several months, Kylie Jenner managed to reach the 300 million mark. The 24-year-old business mogul is the first woman to break the Instagram record, with Cristiano Ronaldo being the most followed soccer player having 388 million followers. After the Astroworld tragedy in November, the reality … Read more
ULAN BATOR, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — Mongolia recorded 2,279 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bring the national count to 401,761, the country’s health ministry said on Thursday. Meanwhile, the viral disease has so far claimed 2,006 lives after three new deaths were reported. The Asian country confirmed its first imported and local … Read more
ABUJA – Twitter was accessible in Nigeria on Thursday after the government lifted a seven-month ban on the social media giant for deleting a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigeria halted Twitter operations in June, provoking an international outcry over freedom of expression. The government and Twitter had been in negotiations over restoring the service based on … Read more
SYDNEY: In-form world number seven Anett Kontaveit cruised into the Sydney Classic semi-finals Thursday after top-10 opponent Ons Jabeur retired hurt, days before the Australian Open. The Estonian won a tight first set 6-4 before the Tunisian called for a medical timeout. After lengthy treatment on her lower back, Jabeur forfeited the match. It is a big … Read more
JAKARTA: Indonesia, the world’s largest thermal coal exporter, said it will allow some operators to resume shipping out the commodity, a senior minister said on Thursday, pointing to a relaxation of a ban decreed on January 1. Thirty-seven vessels loaded with coal have already been released for export as of Wednesday, according to a statement … Read more
PARIS – As a former Syrian intelligence colonel is sentenced to life in prison in Germany for crimes against humanity, we look at the growing number of cases being brought in Europe against loyalists of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In February 2021, the same court in Koblenz that convicted Anwar Raslan on Thursday, jailed a … Read more
PARIS: French bakers have taken aim at a major supermarket chain that is offering inflation-busting low prices for baguettes, saying the move would undermine competition in one of the country’s prized industries. The Leclerc group said in newspaper ads on Tuesday that “because of inflation, the average price of baguettes could increase significantly. That’s unthinkable,” … Read more
Rumors about Mouni Roy’s wedding are circulating. According to rumours, the actress will marry her Dubai-based businessman-boyfriend Suraj Nambiar at the end of this month. As of now, no official confirmation has been given because neither party has said anything. In the midst of the rumours, the actress has uploaded a series of photos of … Read more
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday cherished the reunion of two brothers who were separated during partition in 1947 but finally reunited after 75 long years at Kartarpur Corridor. Read more: India refuses to allow PIA to operate special flights for Hindu pilgrims Sharing a post on his Twitter handle, the minister wrote, “Kartarpur … Read more
MUMBAI: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday said that electric car pioneer Tesla was “working through” a lot of challenges with the Indian government ahead of long-awaited plans to launch in the country. Tesla’s hopes to sell its vehicles in one of the world’s biggest markets have been stalled by efforts to negotiate lower import … Read more
CHENGDU – Seven people were confirmed dead and two remained trapped after a building of a power station was flooded in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, local authorities said Thursday. The flooding, which took place at around 1:40 p.m. Wednesday, trapped 11 maintenance personnel in the power station. By 4 p.m. Thursday, … Read more
DHAKA: Captain Mominul Haque has warned Bangladesh that they will be stuck as the world number nine Test team “all our lives” unless they are more consistent. Bangladesh won their first Test ever in New Zealand but were crushed by an innings and 117 runs earlier this week in the second Test to draw the … Read more
ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 10,159,243 cases as of Wednesday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) said the death toll across the continent stands at 232,363 with 9,046,310 recoveries so … Read more
SHANGHAI – The Omicron variant, which spreads faster than Delta, will result in a hospitalization surge and overload the healthcare system, said Zhang Wenhong, head of the Center for Infectious Diseases with the Shanghai-based Huashan Hospital of Fudan University. He added that the battle between humanity and the Omicron variant is at its “toughest moment.” … Read more
BEIJING – Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 14.9 percent year on year to a record high of 1.15 trillion yuan in 2021, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday. In U.S. dollar terms, the inflow went up 20.2 percent year on year to 173.48 billion dollars. High-tech industries saw … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice-President Sherry Rehman on Thursday said the government’s mini-budget would bring a tsunami of inflation in Pakistan. “The government will not pass the Finance (Supplementary) Bill but bulldoze it in the National Assembly today. The artificial numerical majority is only being used to bulldoze the bills. Everyone realises that after … Read more
KARACHI: The board of directors of Cnergyico Pk Limited has approved to acquire a 57.37 per cent stake in the Puma Energy Pakistan Private Limited, a bourse filing said on Thursday. Having one of the largest refining capacities in the country, Cnergyico after this acquisition would have the second largest retail fuel network, based on … Read more
VILNIUS – Six Lithuanians who lost relatives during Moscow’s crackdown on the Baltic state’s independence drive filed a lawsuit against former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Thursday. The group initiated legal action 31 years to the day since the January 1991 assault, which killed 14 civilians and wounded over 700. In 2019, a Lithuanian court … Read more
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that the opposition parties coming out on the roads had done nothing for the country. Addressing the media in Islamabad on Thursday ahead of the National Assembly (NA) session this evening, he asked, “what the people who are coming out on the roads have … Read more
KOBLENZ, Germany – A German court on Thursday sentenced a former Syrian colonel to life in jail for crimes against humanity in a landmark first global trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria. Anwar Raslan, 58, was found guilty of overseeing the murder of 27 people at the Al-Khatib detention centre in Damascus, also known as … Read more
PARIS: Global companies and financial institutions with the highest potential for curbing deforestation are largely failing to do so, undermining pledges to protect forests made at the COP26 climate summit in November, a report said on Thursday. The Forest 500 analysis by non-profit research group Global Canopy graded 350 companies most responsible for producing, using or … Read more
TOKYO: Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing posted a record first-quarter profit on Thursday and kept its yearly forecast unchanged, even as business in the key market of mainland China was hit by virus restrictions. The Japanese casualwear behemoth said better-than-expected sales and profit in the three months to December could largely be explained by the “growing … Read more
Kanye West, the rapper who now goes by moniker Ye, has been in the news recently for various reasons. But the most recent report has raised everyone’s eyes. The rapper says he wants to visit Russia and make it his second home. He will be going later this year and will also meet Russian President … Read more
Actress Ayesha Omar loves to travel and this time her vacationing spot is Dubai and the star is relishing her winter time there. Omar taking it to her Instagram reveals that she has been hanging out in Dubai and enjoying her favourite food on the go. Read more: Throwback when Ayesha Omar sizzled in a … Read more
