US officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak and how contagious the disease is to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show. Chinese leaders intentionally concealed the severity of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May […]
Washington: The US government has given a grace period of 60 days to H-1B visa holders and Green Card applicants, who have been served notices for submission of various documents, in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Friday said the 60-day grace period for responding to its requests will include requests for […]
Dubai Mall, which is touted as the world’s largest mall, re-opened this week under strict safeguards after being shut down for a month due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed 238,663 lives worldwide so far. Clutching bags from designer boutiques in their gloved hands, customers are back at one of the world’s largest shopping havens after […]
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that he had “no information” about the health of Kim Jong Un, amid unconfirmed reports that the North Korean leader is unwell. Guterres was responding to a question on whether any UN official had spoken to any North Korean official about the health and whereabouts of Kim. […]
President Donald Trump Wednesday termed the World Health Organization “literally a pipe organ for China” and said the United States will soon come out with its recommendations on the global body, followed by one on Beijing. “They misled us,” he said of the WHO on the coronavirus outbreak. “We will have a recommendation pretty soon […]
At least 40 civilians were killed, including 11 children, when a bomb detonated in the northern Syrian town of Afrin on Tuesday, the Turkish Defence Ministry said, blaming the attack on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said the blast occurred in a crowded area in Afrin’s centre. A […]
Beijing: China’s top scientists said the novel coronavirus will not be eradicated, joining a growing consensus around the world that the pathogen will likely return in waves like the flu. It is unlikely for the new virus to disappear the way its close cousin the SARS virus did 17 years ago, as it infects some people […]
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has ordered an end to the death penalty for crimes committed by minors, according to a statement by a top official. The decision comes on the heels of another ordering judges to end the practice of flogging, replacing it with jail time, fines or community service and bringing one of the […]
Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment, the supreme court announced, hailing the latest in a series of “human rights advances” made by the king and his powerful son. Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia — sometimes extending to hundreds of lashes — have long drawn condemnation from human rights groups. But they say the […]
Coronavirus latest updates: US President Donald Trump on Friday suggested that researchers should try to apply their findings to coronavirus patients by inserting ‘light or disinfectant’ into their bodies. The theory comes amid shortage of testing kits and medical staff in the US, where nearly 50,000 people have been killed and over eight lakh people have […]