The bodies of the eight Indian tourists, including four minors, who died due to possible asphyxiation in their room at a mountainous resort in Nepal are undergoing postmortem here today and would be flown back home on Thursday, according to a senior Indian official. Continue Reading
Agents from Venezuela’s Sebin intelligence service on Tuesday raided the offices of opposition leader Juan Guaido while he was in London for talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, an opposition lawmaker said. Continue Reading
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan started their new life in Canada on Tuesday by launching a legal warning to media over photographs of the duchess near their seaside bolthole. Continue Reading
The UN Security Council called Tuesday on Libya’s warring sides to quickly reach a ceasefire that would pave the way for a political process aimed at ending conflict in the oil-rich state. The United Nations meeting followed up on a weekend Libya summit held in Berlin, which saw the formation of a military commission that is supposed to define ways of consolidating a cessation of hostilities. It is to comprise five members each from the UN-recognised government in Tripoli and its opponents loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Continue Reading
The US Senate has started the historic impeachment trial of President Donald Trump amidst an “acrimonious scene” among the Senators from the ruling Republican party and the opposition Democrats over the rules of the game. The impeachment trial began on Tuesday and comes nearly a week after the House of Representatives, where the Democrats enjoy a majority, voted to send articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate. In a 228-193 vote, which was mainly on party lines, the House had appointed seven impeachment managers to argue Democrats case for removing Trump from the office. Continue Reading
The starkly opposed visions of US President Donald Trump and Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg on climate change will clash in Davos on Tuesday as the World Economic Forum tries to face up to the perils of global warming on its 50th meeting. The four-day gathering of the world’s top political and business leaders in the Swiss Alps gets under way seeking to meet head-on the dangers to both the environment and economy from the heating of the planet. Continue Reading
More than 470 million people worldwide are currently unemployed or underemployed, the UN said, warning that a lack of access to decent jobs was contributing to social unrest. The global unemployment rate has remained relatively stable over much of the past decade, according to the UN’s International Labour Organisation. But while the rate — which stood at 5.4 per cent last year — is not expected to change much, overall jobless numbers are likely to inch up as slowing economies reduce the number of jobs available to a growing population. Continue Reading
‘Amid prolonged trade disputes and wide-ranging policy uncertainties, the world economy has seen a significant and broad-based deterioration over the past year,’ declared the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 report from UN (United Nations), released recently. Continue Reading
A fourth person has died in an outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, authorities said as more places stepped up medical screening of travelers from the country as it enters its busiest travel period. The increased control measures followed a sharp rise in the number of infections to more than 200 people since last month, with epidemiologists still uncertain of its nature and mode of transmission. Chinese health authorities confirmed late Monday that some cases had been transmitted person-to-person, a development that means the illness could spread faster and more widely, particularly at the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush. Continue Reading
A mysterious SARS-like virus has spread around China — including to Beijing — authorities said, fuelling fears of a major outbreak as millions begin travelling for the Lunar New Year in humanity’s biggest migration. The new coronavirus strain, first discovered in the central city of Wuhan, has caused alarm because of its connection to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Wuhan has 11 million inhabitants and serves as a major transport hub, including during the annual Lunar New Year holiday which begins later this week and sees hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel across the country to visit family. Continue Reading