World

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

Colombo, Nov 30: At least eight inmates were killed and 50 other inmates and two prison officials were injured when unrest erupted at the Mahara prison here, said Colombo Page citing police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana. The prison officials were compelled to use minimal force including firing several shots to control the situation, the police spokesman said. The unrest broke out Sunday afternoon

A “gruesome” massacre against farmers in northeastern Nigeria killed at least 110 people, the United Nations has said, raising tolls initially indicating 43 and then at least 70 dead. The killings took place in the early afternoon of Saturday in the village of Koshobe and other rural communities in the Jere local government area near Maiduguri, the capital of the conflict-hit Borno state. “Armed

Kabul, Nov 29: Afghan officials said Sunday at least 34 people were killed in two separate suicide bombings that targeted a military base and a provincial chief. In eastern Ghazni province, 31 soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded when the attacker drove a military humvee full of explosives onto an army commando base before detonating the car bomb, according to an official in Afghanistan’s

Battling global adversity over the coronavirus and bracing for a WHO inquiry over its origin, China on Friday claimed that just because COVID-19 cases were first reported in Wuhan does not mean the contagion originated from the central Chinese city. Various outlets of the state-run Chinese media have been carrying reports in recent days stating that a number of imported food products from

Ankara, Nov 27: Turkey started a criminal case over the inspection of its cargo ship in the Mediterranean by the European Union's naval mission Irini, tasked to monitor the international embargo on arms supplies to Libya, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Friday. The criminal case was launched by the prosecutor's office in Ankara, according to the report. Turkish-flagged freighter Roseline-A

Tokyo, Nov 26: Japan has reported an outbreak of bird flu, detected in a third Japanese prefecture on Thursday. Some 146,000 chickens will be exterminated in the Japanese prefecture of Hyogo, which became the third region hit with this disease, Sputnik reported. Bird flu in Japan comes at a time when the world is battling with COVID-19 pandemic, which has become a health crisis. According to

Melbourne, Nov 25: Dr Gaurav Sharma, one of the youngest and newly-elected MPs in New Zealand, on Wednesday took oath in Sanskrit in the country’s Parliament. Sharma, 33, hailing from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur, was recently elected as the Member of Parliament from the Labour Party for Hamilton West in New Zealand. India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa, Muktesh Pardeshi said on