World

Colombo: Sri Lanka is calling on farmers to grow more rice as it faces its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years, media reports said. The country’s Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera made the appeal as he said the country’s “food situation is becoming worse”, the BBC reported. It comes as severe shortages of essentials, […]

Canberra: The new Australian government’s ministry has officially been sworn in. The 30 members of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s frontbench, which includes a record-breaking 13 women, were sworn-in to their portfolios by Governor-General David Hurley at the Government House in Canberra, Xinhua news agency reported. Of the 30, 23 will serve in Albanese’s cabinet, the […]

San Francisco: The US Supreme Court has blocked a Texas law that would ban large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express. According to the New York Times, the court’s brief order was unsigned and gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The order was […]

Copenhagen: The WHO has said that it aimed to contain the monkeypox outbreak by stopping human transmission to the maximum extent possible, warning that the potential for further transmission in Europe and elsewhere this summer is high. In a statement, the WHO on Tuesday added that its European Region “remained at the epicenter of the largest […]

Ottawa: The Canadian ruling party has tabled a new firearm-control bill which features a national freeze on importing, buying, selling or otherwise transferring handguns, local media reported. CTV News on Tuesday reported that the measure does not ban handguns outright, allowing current owners to continue to possess and use them, but seeks to cap the […]

Brussels: EU leaders have said that they will block most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine, media reports said. The EU-wide ban will affect oil that arrives by sea – around two-thirds of imports – but not pipeline oil, following opposition from Hungary, BBC reported. Poland and […]

Dubai: Iran disrupted internet access to the outside world as angry demonstrators rallied over the collapse of a tower in southwestern Iran that has killed at least 34 people, experts said Tuesday as outrage and grief continued to grow in the country. The disruption has plunged the southwestern province into digital isolation, making it difficult […]

Colombo: India on Tuesday said it has delivered one more consignment of 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel to Sri Lanka to help ease the acute fuel shortage in the debt-ridden island nation which is grappling with its worst economic crisis. India extended an additional USD 500 million credit line to Sri Lanka last month to […]

Beijing: Shanghai authorities say they will take some major steps on Wednesday toward reopening China’s largest city after a two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has throttled the national economy and largely bottled up millions of people in their homes. Full bus and subway service will be restored as will basic rail connections with the rest of […]

Geneva: It may be too early to say whether the recent monkeypox outbreak, which has spread to 24 nations with over 435 confirmed cases, could lead to a global pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. The global health body, however, noted that there is a “window” of opportunity to curb rising cases, CNBC reported. […]

Sanaa: The Houthi militia in Yemen has confirmed that the first commercial flight between Sanaa and Cairo will take off on Wednesday after a gap of six years. “The office of UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg has confirmed in a letter to the (Houthi-controlled) ministry of transportation in Sanaa that the first passenger […]

Cairo: Egyptian authorities unveiled on a major new archaeological find of 250 sealed coffins containing mummies, 150 bronze statues of ancient gods and goddesses, and other antiquities at the Saqqara necropolis, south of the capital Cairo. An archaeological mission working in Bubastian Cemetery area discovered a bronze statues cachette in the site that dates back […]

Beijing: A man in Beijing is under criminal probe after he skipped out on mandated Covid-19 home isolation, prompting authorities to send his more than 5,000 neighbours into home or government quarantine, officials said on Monday. The actions by the man, who later tested positive, come as the Chinese capital and Shanghai begin to ease […]

Brasilia: The death toll due to the heavy rain in Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco has increased to 56, disaster management authorities said. Fifty-six people are still missing and nearly 4,000 have been evacuated due to the floods and landslides caused by the heavy rains, Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying on Sunday. […]

Paris: A man seemingly disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a piece of cake at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum and shouted at people to think of planet Earth. The Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday that the man, 36, was detained following Sunday’s incident and sent to […]

Washington: Stargazers and space enthusiasts living in the North American region are likely to witness meteor showers, according to NASA. Named ‘tau Herculid’ shower, it is forecast to peak on the night of May 30 and early morning of May 31. However, it is not a sure thing, the US space agency said. “This is […]

Kathmandu: All passengers including four Indian nationals who were traveling in the ill-fated Tara Air have been confirmed dead, according to the passenger list released by the airline on Monday. Tara Air’s 9 NAET twin-engine aircraft carrying 19 passengers and three crew members, flying from Pokhara to Jomsom had lost contact on Sunday morning, minutes […]

San Francisco: US-built supercomputer titled ‘Frontier’ on Monday dethroned Japan’s ‘Fugaku’ (developed by the Riken Institute and Fujitsu), as the world’s fastest machine with 1.1 exaflops of performance on the 59th TOP500 list published by an international conference of computer experts. The Frontier supercomputer at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is […]

Washington: Former US President Barack Obama reunited virtually with Jacob Philadelphia, the boy from the viral “Hair Like Mine” photo, 13 years after the iconic picture was taken in the Oval Office. Jacob reconnected with the former president ahead of his high school graduation. In 2009, Carlton Philadelphia, Jacob’s father, a U.S. Marine who served […]

Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Monday issued special instructions to all national and provincial health authorities to remain on high alert for any suspected case of monkeypox. According to a Radio Pakistan report, the Ministry of National Health Services is closely monitoring the situation and has debunked information circulating on social media about monkeypox cases […]

Kathmandu: The Nepali Army has physically located the Tara Airlines plane crash site in the country’s Mustang district, its Spokesperson Brigadier General Narayan Silwal said on Monday. The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane had four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers besides a three-member Nepali crew. “The search and rescue troops have physically […]

Rio De Janeiro: At least 37 people were killed and about 5,000 others displaced in northeastern Brazil due to heavy rains, authorities said on Saturday. Recife City, the capital of northeastern Pernambuco State, is the most affected by the rains, where 35 people died and about 1,000 others fled their homes, according to the local […]

Los Angeles: The haunted house which inspired the popular ‘The Conjuring’ horror film franchise has been sold. As a young woman noted at the beginning of ‘The Conjuring’: “It scares us just thinking about it.”, she was talking about the elements that went into the film. But that statement also applies to the real estate price […]

Kathmandu: A small Nepalese private airlines plane with 22 people on board, including four Indians, has gone missing in the mountainous region of the Himalayan nation after it took off from the tourist city of Pokhara on Sunday morning, officials said. The Twin Otter 9N-AET plane belonging to Tara Air, which took off at 10:15 […]