International News Updates

Washington: US President Donald Trump will visit India, with stops in the capital New Delhi and the western state of Gujarat, from February 24-25, the White House announced on Monday. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will make the trip to “strengthen the United States – India strategic partnership,” the announcement said. Gujarat is the […]

Beijing: The death toll in China due to the novel coronavirus epidemic has crossed 1,000, while the confirmed cases have gone over 42,000, health officials announced on Tuesday. As many as 108 deaths were reported on Monday and 2,478 new cases of the lethal disease were confirmed, the National Health Commission said in its daily […]

Jerusalem: In a massive breach, an election app named Elector in use by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party exposed sensitive personal data — including identity card numbers, full names and addresses of the country’s entire national voting registration of about 6.5 million citizens. The Authority for Defending Privacy issued a statement Monday night […]

Geneva: A two-day global research and innovation forum led by the World Health Organization (WHO) was launched here Tuesday to mobilise international action in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Co-hosted by the WHO and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness and funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the forum kicked off […]

Beijing/Geneva: The new coronavirus that has killed over 1,000 people in China and sickened more than 43,000 others globally has been named ‘COVID-19’, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday. “We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is […]

Moscow: Russia is open to dialogue with the US if its interests are taken into account and Washington stops interfering in its internal affairs, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday. “Refusal of cooperation and of partnership in some areas has become the norm in Washington,” Ryabkov was quoted by RIA Novosti news […]

Washington:  US President Donald Trump has said that he is looking forward to his first visit to India later this month and indicated that the two countries may sign a trade deal. At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump is slated to travel to India on February 24 and 25. In addition to […]

Beijing: The death toll in China’s novel coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 1,113 with 97 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases of infection jumped to 44,653, health officials said on Wednesday. The country’s National Health Commission said it received reports of 2,015 new confirmed cases and 97 […]

Lahore: A Lahore anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday convicted Mumbai blast mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed in two terror-financing cases. Saeed has been convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act Section 11-F(2) – pertaining to membership, support and meetings relating to a proscribed organisation – and 11-N (punishment under Sections 11-H [fund raising] to 11-K [money […]

London: Britain on Monday added India to its COVID-19 travel “red list”, which effectively bans all travel from the country and makes a 10-day hotel quarantine compulsory for UK residents…

Beijing: China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus, has reported a record 242 new fatalities and nearly 15,000 fresh cases in a single day, local health officials announced on Thursday, the fastest rise in the daily count since the virus outbreak was first identified in December. The hard-hit Hubei province for which Wuhan […]

Tokyo: Japan on Thursday confirmed that the number of people who tested positive for the deadly coronavirus on board a quarantined cruise ship off the coast of Yokohama has increased to 218, after the emergence of over 44 fresh cases. Some 218 COVID-19, the official name of the disease, cases have already been detected aboard […]

New Delhi: A scientist involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine at Australia’s University of Queensland has said that it may take about one year before people will actually be able to use it. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a partnership against epidemics by public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations earlier commissioned the University […]

Beijing: Indian and Pakistani students in China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, have made desperate pleas to their governments to evacuate them after Chinese officials decided to convert their university gymnasiums and dormitories into makeshift hospitals amid a big surge in infection cases. The death toll from the epidemic surged to 1,367 […]

London: Indian-origin politician Rishi Sunak was appointed as the UK’s new finance minister on Thursday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a Cabinet reshuffle. Sunak, the son-in-law of Infosys Co-founder Narayana Murthy, will join Home secretary Priti Patel on the top government bench as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Earlier, Pakistani-origin Sajid Javid resigned as […]