WASHINGTON – The United States added over 1 million COVID-19 cases again on Tuesday, after setting a global record of over 1.36 million daily cases earlier this month, according to latest data from Johns Hopkins University. A total of 1,060,747 new cases and 1,896 new deaths were reported across the country on Tuesday. The country … Read more
ANKARA – Turkey’s security forces killed seven members of Syria’s Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) after they attempted to infiltrate into Turkish military zone in northern Syria, the country’s defense ministry said Wednesday. The seven YPG militants “opened harassment fire against the region and attempted to infiltrate, (and) were neutralized by our fire-support vehicles,” the … Read more
CAIRO: Dubai’s Emirates Airline on Tuesday said that it would suspend flights to several destinations in the United States from January 19, until further notice due to concerns regarding 5G mobile deployment, Reuters reported. The move is “due to operational issues related to the planned rollout of 5G mobile network services in the United States,” the company … Read more
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) — The first three locally transmitted COVID-19 cases of the Omicron variant in Vietnam have been confirmed in its southern Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam News Agency reported Wednesday. The three people were all related to another COVID-19 patient who recently entered Vietnam from the United … Read more
JERUSALEM – Israel and the United States have completed a successful flight test of the Arrow-3 ballistic missile interceptor, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday. At a test site in central Israel, the ballistic missile interceptor detected and destroyed a target in outer space, the ministry said in a statement. The completion of … Read more
WASHINGTON – The United States called on North Korea Monday to “cease its unlawful and destabilizing activities,” after Pyongyang fired two suspected ballistic missiles in its fourth weapons test this month, a State Department spokesman said. In a call with South Korean and Japanese officials, the US special representative on North Korea, Sung Kim “expressed … Read more
KHARTOUM – Security forces shot and killed three protesters Monday during rallies against last year’s military coup, medics said, ahead of a visit by US diplomats seeking to revive a transition to civilian rule. The protesters “were killed by live bullets” by “militias of the putschist military council”, anti-coup medics said on the Facebook page … Read more
NAIROBI – The Ethiopian government announced it was pardoning a number of high-profile political prisoners, including members of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in a bid to promote “national dialogue”. The surprise move comes amid a lull in the brutal 14-month conflict in northern Ethiopia after a dramatic shift in battlefield fortunes at … Read more
KARACHI: The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) chairman Mian Nauman Kabir has urged the government to include hydropower projects in the scope of renewable energy, as the country cannot afford costly and anti-environment fossil fuels. PIAF senior vice chairman Nasir Hameed and vice chairman Javed Siddiqi in a joint statement, demanded the government … Read more
WASHINGTON: High demand for groceries combined with soaring freight costs and Omicron-related labour shortages are creating a new round of backlogs at processed food and fresh produce companies, leading to empty supermarket shelves at major retailers across the United States, Reuters reported. Growers of perishable produce across the West Coast are paying nearly triple pre-pandemic trucking rates … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan assumed chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China (G-77), a group of more than 130 developing countries, for the year 2022 on Friday. While virtually delivering a statement at the United Nations during the handover ceremony for the Chair of the G77 and China, Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that … Read more
Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit China from February 3-5 for attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. Speaking at a weekly news briefing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed stated that during the prime minister’s visit, officials from Islamabad and Beijing would discuss the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), among other things. … Read more
ARLINGTON: The used car market in the United States is seeing an unprecedented phenomenon: owners selling vehicles for as much or more than they paid for them. The strange twist comes as a global shortage of computer chips amid the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled auto manufacturing, fueling a price increase for used vehicles, which in turn … Read more
KARACHI: Spotify has partnered with the Coke Studio Pakistan (CSP) to launch ‘Coke Studio: Pakistan’ destination dedicated to 2022’s music show, a statement said on Thursday. Under this partnership, Spotify is now the official music streaming partner for Coke Studio Pakistan this year. The artists of CSP will have a place to share their music … Read more
For the first time in medical history, a team of doctors in the United States has successfully implanted a pig’s heart into a human being. Dr Mansoor Mohiuddin, a Pakistani-American physician, played a key role in this remarkable breakthrough. David Bennett, a 57-year-old heart patient, was first judged ineligible for a regular human heart transplant … Read more
YANGON: Nearly 1,600 tonnes of teak from Myanmar were exported to American companies last year, circumventing the US sanctions imposed to deny the junta millions of dollars in profits, an activist group said on Tuesday. The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since a February 1 coup triggered widespread unrest that the military has sought … Read more
LONDON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — The true number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is probably being undercounted — many deaths are not counted because they happen months after infection, according to an insurance company CEO. “The deaths that are being reported as covid deaths greatly understate the actual death losses … Read more
BEIJING: Five million residents of a central Chinese city started home confinement Tuesday in a new lockdown to curb the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to state media. Beijing is on high alert for new outbreaks as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month, sticking to a … Read more
Gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the total output of goods and services in an economy, has flaws when used to gauge the well-being of a nation’s residents. For example, to the question of whether people in the United States are better-off in 2021 than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic, the answer would be … Read more
In an industrial unit on the outskirts of Taipei chefs are plating meals that will never be served in a restaurant: welcome to the world of “ghost kitchens”. Even before the pandemic sent an earthquake through the global restaurant trade, the ‘Amazonification’ of commercial kitchens was well underway, but coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions have fuelled … Read more
Ghislaine Maxwell comes from a family dominated by her father, Robert, whose mysterious drowning at sea left behind conspiracy theories, financial scandal and a fallen empire. Her conviction in the United States for procuring young girls for the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein has put the family back in the news. The father Robert Maxwell’s … Read more
Pyongyang- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un put the economy front and centre of an agenda-setting speech at the end of a key ruling party meeting, state media reported, with no mention of the United States. Instead of the policy positions on diplomacy for which Kim’s New Year statements have been closely watched in recent … Read more
TAIPEI: McDonald’s Taiwan said on Friday some of its stores were running out of hash browns imported from the United States and would have to suspend sales due to “unstable global shipping supply”. The company put up signs in some storefronts announcing the suspensions while the item is listed as “temporarily unavailable” on its menus. “There … Read more
MEXICO CITY: Mexico on Thursday requested a dispute settlement panel under a revamped North American trade deal to resolve a difference of interpretation with the United States in the auto sector, the government said. The Latin American nation aims to establish that Washington’s interpretation of content requirements known as rules of origin are incorrect, the economy … Read more
PARIS, Jan 6, 2022 (AFP) – A series of coronavirus outbreaks have cropped up on cruise ships in North and South America, Europe and Asia in recent days despite strict health measures, giving new headaches to the pandemic-hit sector. Safety bubbles that include tests and vaccine requirements were set up to reassure travellers when cruise travel … Read more
WASHINGTON: Hiring in the United States surged in December, with private companies adding 807,000 workers, particularly in the service sector, payroll services firm ADP reported on Wednesday. It was a big upswing from the 505,000 gain in November and nearly double the increase economists had been expecting, but the fast-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19 could hit … Read more
WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve officials last month were concerned about the Omicron impact, but believed the US economy had recovered enough from the pandemic downturn that interest rate hikes could come sooner than expected, according to minutes of the December meeting released Wednesday. The document provides a behind-the-scenes look at the deliberations of the Fed’s policy committee, … Read more
LAS VEGAS, Jan 5, 2022 (AFP) – The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) throws open its doors to thousands Wednesday in Las Vegas despite surging Covid-19 cases in the United States, as one of the world’s largest trade fairs tries to get back to business. After a series of high-profile companies like Amazon and Google cancelled over … Read more
