Foreign

Rebels seize Myanmar military post along Thai border

Rebels seize Myanmar military post along Thai border

April 27, 2021, 6:38 pm

ANKARA – An ethnic rebel group on Tuesday morning attacked and seized a military post belonging to the Myanmar ruling junta along the border with Thailand. The separatist Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) Brigade 5 attacked Myanmar military’s border post in Thaw Le Hta, near the border… Read More

82 confirmed dead in Baghdad Covid-19 hospital fire

82 confirmed dead in Baghdad Covid-19 hospital fire

April 25, 2021, 7:14 pm

CAIRO – Some 82 people were killed by a fire in Baghdad’s hospital, while 110 others were injured, the Baghdad Al Youm news portal reported on Sunday, citing the Iraqi Interior Ministry. "The fire at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital killed 82 people, some 110 people were injured," the statement… Read More

Myanmar unity gov’t welcomes Asean meeting consensus

Myanmar unity gov’t welcomes Asean meeting consensus

April 25, 2021, 6:44 pm

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Myanmar's newly formed National Unity Government (NUG) welcomed the five-point consensus on the coup crisis during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). "This is what the National Unity Government has been calling for," it said in a written… Read More

Asean leaders reach consensus on Myanmar coup crisis

Asean leaders reach consensus on Myanmar coup crisis

April 25, 2021, 3:55 pm

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Stressing an end to the violence, the leaders of Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) countries reached a five-point consensus on the Myanmar coup crisis on Saturday, according to a joint statement. The statement after the regional group’s meeting in the Indonesian… Read More

India's Covid-19 tally nearing 17M

India's Covid-19 tally nearing 17M

April 25, 2021, 2:16 pm

NEW DELHI – India's Covid-19 tally reached 16,960,172 on Sunday with as many as 349,691 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. This was the fourth consecutive day when over 300,000 cases were registered in a single day. According to the figures released by the federal health ministry, as many… Read More

US FDA lifts restrictions on Johnson & Johnson vaccine use

US FDA lifts restrictions on Johnson & Johnson vaccine use

April 24, 2021, 4:29 pm

NEW YORK – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted restrictions on Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock announced on Friday. The use of the vaccine was renewed following the recommendations of a panel of experts from the Centers for Disease Control and… Read More

ASEAN summit to discuss Myanmar crisis

ASEAN summit to discuss Myanmar crisis

April 23, 2021, 2:11 pm

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Jakarta on Saturday to discuss the Myanmar crisis. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and Indonesian… Read More

Biden to convene 40 world leaders to discuss climate

Biden to convene 40 world leaders to discuss climate

April 22, 2021, 6:23 pm

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is set to convene world leaders from 40 countries on Thursday to discuss the growing threats posed by climate change, and announce a key climate goal for the US. Biden is expected to attempt to position the US as the global leader in the battle to prevent global… Read More

IMF official sees both potential, risk in digital currencies

IMF official sees both potential, risk in digital currencies

April 22, 2021, 1:47 pm

WASHINGTON – Digital currencies have a potential to make financial services "much more inclusive," an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official has said, while warning that there are also risks worth watching. "There is a lot of promise in these electronic currencies," Helge Berger, the IMF's… Read More

South Korean court dismisses lawsuit against Japan

South Korean court dismisses lawsuit against Japan

April 21, 2021, 9:25 pm

ANKARA – A South Korean court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by wartime victims against the Japanese government, local media reported. In its ruling on the case of women forced to work as sex slaves during World War II, the Seoul Central District Court cited sovereign immunity, a concept… Read More

'Covid-19 worst crisis in Asia-Pacific since WW II'

'Covid-19 worst crisis in Asia-Pacific since WW II'

April 21, 2021, 3:00 pm

KARACHI, Pakistan – The coronavirus pandemic has created the worst crisis in Asia-Pacific since World War II, exposing structural weaknesses and fault lines, and revealing gaps in health services, social protection, and digital connectivity in the region, according to a new study. The study,… Read More

Biden: Chauvin conviction can be 'giant step forward'

Biden: Chauvin conviction can be 'giant step forward'

April 21, 2021, 11:18 am

WASHINGTON – The conviction of ex-Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin can be a "giant step forward" in the US' struggle with systemic racism, President Joe Biden said Tuesday. Chauvin was convicted by a jury just hours earlier of murder and manslaughter for the May 2020 killing… Read More

US jury finds Chauvin guilty of all 3 charges over Floyd’s death

US jury finds Chauvin guilty of all 3 charges over Floyd’s death

April 21, 2021, 8:42 am

WASHINGTON – Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter over the death of George Floyd, the judge presiding over the high-profile trial announced Tuesday, reading the jury's verdict. Right after judge Peter Cahill… Read More

UN chief calls for real action to fight climate change

UN chief calls for real action to fight climate change

April 20, 2021, 7:01 pm

UNITED NATIONS – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for specific commitments and real action to fight climate change after speaking out about the severity of the climatic disruptions that have raged the planet. "We must agree to a common direction of travel," the… Read More

WHO reports alarming hospitalization of 25 to 59-year-olds

WHO reports alarming hospitalization of 25 to 59-year-olds

April 20, 2021, 1:53 pm

GENEVA – New cases of Covid-19 increased for the eighth week in a row, with more than 5.2 million reported -- the most in a week so far -- and alarming hospitalizations among people aged 25 to 59 worldwide, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday. “Deaths rose… Read More

NASA's helicopter makes first flight on Mars

NASA's helicopter makes first flight on Mars

April 19, 2021, 9:36 pm

ANKARA – The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has conducted the first helicopter flight on planet Mars, it announced Monday. "Ingenuity has performed its first flight — the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet!" NASA wrote on Twitter, adding data that… Read More

Covid-19 cases across globe up by over 809K Sunday

Covid-19 cases across globe up by over 809K Sunday

April 19, 2021, 2:05 pm

GENEVA – More than 809,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection were registered worldwide in the past day, with the overall number exceeding 140.32 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily bulletin on Sunday. As of 15:35 Moscow time on April 18, as many as… Read More

Covid-19 surge rattles hospitals in India

Covid-19 surge rattles hospitals in India

April 18, 2021, 7:54 pm

NEW DELHI – In New Delhi, one sound is conspicuous these days -- the siren of ambulances. More so outside the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, one of India's largest Covid-19 facilities. As India is witnessing an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases, the hospitals in Delhi and other… Read More

Asean leaders eye in-person summit on Myanmar situation

Asean leaders eye in-person summit on Myanmar situation

April 18, 2021, 4:54 pm

JAKARTA – Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will convene a meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 24 to discuss efforts in building the Asean Community, external relations, and regional issues including the crisis in Myanmar. Plans for the meeting have been in the… Read More

World has alarming increase in Covid cases: WHO chief

World has alarming increase in Covid cases: WHO chief

April 18, 2021, 11:02 am

GENEVA – There is an alarming increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths worldwide, and cases each week have nearly doubled over the past two months, the World Health Organization chief said on Friday. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus was addressing a top-level virtual meeting held under the… Read More