International News Updates

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 […]

Ankara: A total of 55 Syrian government soldiers were killed in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib amid escalation between Turkish and Syrian forces in the region, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday. “According to the latest information received from our sources in Idlib, 55 regime troops have been neutralized today,” said Turkish Defence Ministry in […]

Washington: US President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war on Iran without congressional approval has been limited in a Senate bill passed by his fellow Republicans. The Iran war powers resolution was approved by a vote of 55-45 – hours after Trump warned that it would make America less safe from Iran, the BBC reported […]

Beijing: Death toll in China’s coronavirus epidemic has gone up to 1,483 with Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reporting 116 new fatalities, the country’s health officials said on Friday. The hard-hit province reported 4,823 new confirmed cases on Thursday, the provincial health commission said. The new cases included 3,095 clinically diagnosed ones which […]

Islamabad: The visiting IMF mission has asked Islamabad “to reduce its trade and commerce reliance on Beijing” and look for other international options by signing free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries too, a media report said on Friday. The development comes as the mission has extended its stay in Pakistan for making more efforts […]

Colombo: The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved the extension of the free-visa scheme to nationals of 48 countries, including India, until April 30 as the tourism sector, which was picking up after the 2019 Easter terror attacks, took another hit due to the coronavirus outbreak, it was reported on Friday. “With the introduction of the free-visa […]

Dubai: The first Hindu temple in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi will not use any steel or ferrous materials and will be built adopting the traditional temple architecture in India, temple committee officials have said. Two years after the groundbreaking ceremony, the Swaminarayan temple of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sansth (BAPS) witnessed a […]

Beijing: The death toll in China’s novel coronavirus epidemic has climbed to 1,523 with 143 new fatalities reported mostly from the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases jumped to over 66,000, health officials said on Saturday. The country’s Health Commission said it received reports of 2,641 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and […]

Port-au-Prince: At least 15 children were killed in a fire at a Haiti orphanage run by a US-based Christian non-profit group, authorities said. Two children died in their rooms when the fire erupted on Thursday night in the orphanage located on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, while the other 13 succumbed to respiratory complications at a […]

Cairo: Egypt has reported the country’s first coronavirus case, which is also the first in the African continent, the country’s Health Ministry announced in a joint statement with the WHO. The statement issued on Friday said the patient was a foreigner, without giving further details, reports the Cairo-based Al Ahram newspaper. The person tested positive […]