The continuing global recovery faces multiple challenges as the pandemic enters its third year. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has led to renewed mobility restrictions in many countries and increased labor shortages. Supply disruptions still weigh on activity and are contributing to higher inflation, adding to pressures from strong demand and elevated food … Read more
The most awaited global sporting event, FIFA World Cup is just around the corner and the football enthusiasts cannot wait for the first whistle to blow in Qatar. As a result, according to FIFA, fans have sought 17 million tickets for this year’s World Cup, making it more than five times over-subscribed. Higher prices being … Read more
WASHINGTON – Is Joe Biden “weak” in the face of Russia, Iran or North Korea? This is the accusation leveled by opponents of the US president, who is trying to balance a firm hand with pragmatism to overcome multiple international crises and focus on a rising China. “Is it any surprise that Chinese planes are … Read more
On the eve of the Chinese New Year, President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Beijing as Moscow’s deteriorating relations with the West take centre stage ahead of the official opening of the Winter Olympics in the Chinese capital. During his visit, Putin hailed his country’s “unprecedented” ties with China at … Read more
WINDSOR: Truckers snarling a key bridge between Canada and the United States over vaccination rules defied a judge’s order to leave Friday night, with snowballing protests piling pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The days-long blockade of the Ambassador Bridge — connecting Windsor, Ontario, and the US city of Detroit — has paralyzed a key … Read more
WASHINGTON: Her shopping cart is overflowing with food, but there is no trace of steak. “Too expensive,” said Lisa, a 48-year-old mother, as she left a Giant supermarket in Washington. In the United States, land of barbecues and steakhouses, beef is becoming a luxury. Overall consumer prices rose by seven per cent over the course of … Read more
WASHINGTON – Low-income and uninsured people in the United States are facing hurdles to obtain COVID-19 antivirals, NBC News has reported. Though the COVID-19 antiviral pills are an easier, cheaper and more effective method of treating the virus, they are not easy to obtain, especially for those who are low-income or uninsured, said the U.S. … Read more
US freestyle skier Colby Stevenson said Tuesday he wants to put his traumatic past behind him as he goes for Olympic glory in Beijing, having survived a near-fatal car crash six years ago. On Wednesday, the 24-year-old qualified fifth for the men’s freeski Big Air final and reflected on a watershed moment in his short … Read more
WASHINGTON: The United States will ease tariffs on steel imported from Japan, officials announced on Monday, in the latest move by President Joe Biden’s administration to resolve trade disputes started under his predecessor Donald Trump. Beginning in April, Japan will be allowed to pay lower duties on exports of up to 1.25 million tons of … Read more
WASHINGTON – A US federal judge on Monday ordered the Air Force to pay more than $230 million in damages to survivors and relatives of victims of a 2017 Texas shooting for failing to report the perpetrator’s criminal record. Twenty-six people were killed and 22 more wounded when Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire at the … Read more
BEIJIN: China Unicom has said there were no “justifiable grounds” for a US order that banned the company from operating in the country on national security concerns. The decision by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday was the latest broadside in a standoff that has seen Beijing and Washington clash over trade, technology, … Read more
DUBAI – The United States will send a warship and fighter jets to help defend the United Arab Emirates, officials said, after a series of missile attacks by Yemeni rebels left three dead in the wealthy Gulf state. The deployment, to “assist the UAE against the current threat”, follows a phone call between Defence Secretary … Read more
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Amnesty International labelled Israel an ‘apartheid’ state that treats Palestinians as “an inferior racial group,” joining the assessment of other rights groups. “Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid,” said Amnesty’s secretary general Agnes Callamard. “Whether they live in Gaza, east … Read more
HAVANA – Decreed in February 1962 and still in place today, American sanctions against Cuba is one of the world’s longest-running boycotts by one country against another. Here are five things to know about the six-decade old trade ban. – Objective: Regime change – Executive order 3447 signed by John F Kennedy on … Read more
SEOUL – The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Thursday over the recent missile tests by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Seoul’s foreign ministry said. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong talked over phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the DPRK’s recent series of … Read more
WASHINGTON: Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday they are seeking emergency authorization from US health regulators for use of their Covid vaccine for children aged over six months and under five years. If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes the two-shot regimen, it will become the first Covid vaccine available to this age group in … Read more
FRANKFURT: Soaring inflation will be in focus when European Central Bank governors meet on Thursday, as the threat of war in Ukraine risked further fuelling already sky-high energy prices in the region. Prices rose in the eurozone at an annual rate of five per cent in December, the highest value on record for the currency … Read more
LAHORE: Despite considerable economic growth due to the easy market access in the post-pandemic scenario, e-commerce in Pakistan still remains far below its potential, market players and e-retailers said. The digital economy boomed during the Covid-19 crisis. As people embraced social distancing, they turned to online shopping more than ever before. The market share of … Read more
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Friday praised Intel’s plans to spend $20 billion on a new US semiconductor facility, hailing the ‘historic’ investment even as a global chip shortage fans the inflation wave weighing on his leadership. Biden is urging manufacturers to bring production back to the United States, which was once a leader in … Read more
GENEVA – World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is all but guaranteed a second term after a procedural vote on January 25 made him the sole nominee for a leadership election in May. The first African leader of the UN health agency said he was “very grateful for the renewed support”, after the WHO’s … Read more
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports were recorded at $12.48 billion in 2021, surpassing the country’s export revenue target of $12.14 billion, local media citing provisional data from the Export Development Board (EDB) reported on Saturday. Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardena was quoted by the Daily FT as saying that Sri Lanka’s merchandise export revenue grew … Read more
LOS ANGELES: The governor of New Mexico started work Wednesday as a substitute teacher, replacing one of the thousands of educators across the United States who have been forced off work by the Covid-19 pandemic. Michelle Lujan Grisham — a lawyer by training — swapped the governor’s mansion for the classroom as part of the … Read more
WASHINGTON: For most of last year, investors priced in a temporary rise in inflation in the United States given the unsteady economic recovery and a slow unravelling of supply bottlenecks. Now sentiment has shifted. Prices are rising at the fastest pace in almost four decades and the tight labor market has started to feed into … Read more
TEHRAN – As their foreign ministers exchanged visits to deepen their partnership in the past year, Iran and China are now “facing a new horizon of cooperation,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Khatibzadeh said besides the geographical proximity between Iran and China, it is history, culture, politics, … Read more
Herat – Rescue workers searched for survivors after an earthquake in a remote western region of Afghanistan killed dozens of people and damaged hundreds of houses, officials said on January 18. A 5.3-magnitude shallow quake jolted the province of Badghis and wrecked houses, mostly in Qadis district — a rural area not easily accessible by … Read more
BOGOTA – Peruvian Vladimir Florez was guarding the US consulate in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber blew up a truck outside the gates, killing eight Afghans and sparking a firefight that lasted hours. Like many Latin-American former soldiers, Florez feels bitter at the conditions he endured then and his treatment since. Others say they were … Read more
On September 11, 2001 the United States faced a devastating terrorist attack on its soil. Soon after this attack, the US and its allies declared a War on Terror in Afghanistan with a the objective to make the world safe from the scourge of terrorism. Terrorists initially hid themselves in the mountains of Afghanistan but … Read more
BANGKOK: The exit of energy titans TotalEnergies and Chevron from Myanmar’s billion dollar gas industry has been hailed by rights groups, but analysts say it will not significantly weaken the generals and may even enrich the military in the short term. Both firms had faced pressure to cut financial links with the junta that toppled … Read more
