World

Washington, Dec 8: US President-elect Joe Biden has selected retired Army general Lloyd Austin to run the Pentagon as Secretary of Defence, according to media reports. If confirmed by the Senate, the 67-year-old career military officer would be the first African-American to lead the Department of Defence. The office of the President-elect did not confirm the news, but said Biden will announce

Valdosta, Dec 6: President Donald Trump has urged voters in Georgia to support Republican Senate candidates in the upcoming runoff elections while repeating baseless allegations that his re-election was “stolen” by Democrats. “You must vote for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Go out and vote,” Trump told thousands of people gathered on an airport tarmac in Valdosta in southern Georgia on Saturday

Washington, Dec 5: California certified its presidential election Friday and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden, officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House. Secretary of State Alex Padilla's formal approval of Biden's win in the state brought his tally of pledged electors so far to 279, according to a tally by The Associated Press

Washington, Dec 5: For the second day in a row, the United States on Friday notched a record number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours, reaching 225,201 new infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. In that same period, the country recorded 2,506 Covid-related deaths, according to real-time data provided by the Baltimore-based university at 8:30 pm (0130 GMT Saturday). The United

Maryland, Dec 5: The global coronavirus caseload nears the 66 million cases mark, as per the latest update by Johns Hopkins University. As of Saturday, the world count stood at 65,842,942, while the death toll at 1,518,560. According to JHU, the US continues to be the worst-affected country from the COVID-19 pandemic with 14,353,740 cases and 279,726 deaths. India and Brazil are the second and

London, Dec 3: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday hailed the "searchlights of science" which have fought back against the "invisible enemy" COVID-19 with an approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine but urged the British public to not get carried away with "over optimism". Addressing a 10 Downing Street briefing to confirm that the vaccine will be ready to be deployed to the highest risk

Hong Kong, Dec 2: Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is considering selling its 30% stake in Indian digital payment processor Paytm amid tensions between the two Asian neighbours and a toughening competitive landscape, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Financial details of the possible transaction have not been firmed up and Ant, the Alibaba-backed payments-to-consumer credit behemoth

London, Dec 2: Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use and said that it will be rolled out from next week. “The Government has today accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use,” the British government said. “The

2020 was a year turned upside-down by the novel coronavirus. But with the prospect of several vaccines coming online and less stringent restrictions, experts say it's possible 2021 will return to a semblance of normality. With a second Covid-19 wave currently battering Europe, the United States battling its third, and Hong Kong facing a fourth, disease specialists say they can't rule out more

A US federal judge on Tuesday blocked rule changes ordered by President Donald Trump making it harder for people to get skilled-worker visas. The US Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area Council and others had sued the Department of Homeland Security arguing that the changes rushed new restrictions through without a proper public review process. Skilled-worker visas, referred to as H1-B visas, are