China holds aircraft carrier drills in waters near Taiwan

China holds aircraft carrier drills in waters near Taiwan

Beijing: China is holding naval drills involving an aircraft carrier battlegroup near Taiwan it said were aimed at safeguarding Chinese sovereignty, an apparent allusion to Beijing’s claim to the self-governed island. The navy said the exercises involving the Liaoning, one of its two aircraft carriers, were routine and assigned under an annual schedule. China has […]

Minorities in Myanmar borderlands face fresh fear since coup

Minorities in Myanmar borderlands face fresh fear since coup

JAKARTA: Before each rainy season Lu Lu Aung and other farmers living in a camp for internally displaced people in Myanmar’s far northern Kachin state would return to the village they fled and plant crops that would help keep them fed for the coming year. But this year in the wake of February’s military coup, […]

Experts examine bottom of big ship that was stuck in Suez Canal

CAIRO: Experts dived under a colossal container ship that had been stuck for nearly a week in the Suez Canal before it was freed, to examine the vessel’s underside, officials said Wednesday. The dives were part of a continuing investigation into what caused the grounding of the Ever Given, now anchored in the Great Bitter […]

Biden expresses outrage over civilian killings in Myanmar

Biden expresses outrage over civilian killings in Myanmar

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has expressed outrage over the recent killings of innocent people by the security forces in Myanmar, where military junta overthrew a democratically elected government. It’s terrible. It’s absolutely outrageous. And based on the reporting I’ve gotten, an awful lot of people have been killed totally unnecessarily,” Biden said on Sunday. […]

Giant container ship that blocked Suez Canal set free

SUEZ( EGYPT): Salvage teams on Monday set free a colossal container ship that has halted global trade through the Suez Canal, bringing an end to a crisis that for nearly a week had clogged one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries. Helped by the peak of high tide, a flotilla of tugboats managed to […]

Myanmar protests continue a day after junta killed more than 100

Myanmar protests continue a day after junta killed more than 100

YANGON: Protesters in Myanmar returned to the streets Sunday to press their demands for a return to democracy, just a day after security forces killed more than 100 people in the bloodiest day since last month’s military coup. Protests were held in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities, as well as elsewhere. Some […]

Australian PM greets ‘good friend’ Modi on Holi

MELBOURNE: Australian Premier Scott Morrison on Sunday extended greetings to his “good friend” Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of Holi, the festival of colours. Morrison took to Twitter to wish Modi and the Hindu community in Australia. “Wishing our Hindu Australian community, my good friend @narendramodi and all the people who are celebrating it, a […]

Microplastics in sewage become ‘hubs’ for drug-resistant bacteria: Study

New York: Ultra-fine plastic particles can become ‘hubs’ for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and pathogens to grow once they wash down household drains and enter wastewater treatment plants, a new study says. According to the scientists, including those from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in the US, these plastic particles less than five millimeters in […]

Vaccines may need regular updates as coronavirus evolves, say scientists

Scientists have assessed the course of evolution of the novel coronavirus and predicted that COVID-19 vaccines currently in use across the world may need regular updates to counter new variants of the virus which are capable of escaping the body’s protective antibodies. The study, published in the journal Virus Evolution, assessed whether, over the long […]

PM Modi holds talks with Sheikh Hasina; India, Bangladesh sign five MoUs

PM Modi holds talks with Sheikh Hasina; India, Bangladesh sign five MoUs

DHAKA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Saturday and discussed the progress achieved in areas like connectivity, energy, trade, health and developmental cooperation following which the two countries signed five MoUs covering a number of areas of bilateral cooperation. Modi, who is visiting Bangladesh on his first trip to a […]