World

Panic gripped big tech firms like Facebook and Twitter which decided to close their offices from Seattle to London as more employees tested positive for the new coronavirus. Facebook shut its three London offices till Monday after an employee was diagnosed with COVID-19. The social networking giant told nearly 3,000 employees in London to work from home after an employee, who is based in Singapore

Up to 2,241 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported across the globe as of Thursday, bringing the total count to 95,333, according to the latest official data by the World Health Organization (WHO). Five countries, territories and areas reported COVID-19 cases for the first time in the past 24 hours, the Xinhua news agency reported. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised the

Mar 6: UK stocks fell again on Friday as growing economic risks from the coronavirus outbreak shattered investor confidence, with Britain recording its first death from the pathogen. A 1.5% fall for the FTSE 100 erased the blue-chip index's gains from earlier this week. Export-heavy companies have now lost over $230 billion in value since the epidemic sparked a worldwide rout last week. The

Beijing, Mar 6: World health officials have warned that countries are not taking the coronavirus crisis seriously enough, as outbreaks surged across Europe and in the United States where medical workers sounded warnings over a "disturbing" lack of hospital preparedness. The World Health Organization warned Thursday that a "long list" of countries were not showing "the level of political commitment

New York, Mar 6: A 23-year-old Indian with a student visa in the US has pleaded guilty to sexual enticement of a minor girl, prosecutors have said. Sachin Aji Bhaskar faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. He pleaded guilty before Senior US District Judge William M Skretny to sexual enticement of a minor. The charge carries a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum penalty of life in

Washington, Feb 5: Experts warned a US government panel last night that India's Muslims face risks of expulsion and persecution under the country’s new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which has triggered major protests. The hearing held inside Congress was called by the US Commission on International Freedom, which has been denounced by the Indian government as biased. Ashutosh Varshney, a

Beijing/Zurich, Mar 4: China has approved the use of Swiss drugmaker Roche's anti-inflammation drug Actemra for patients who develop severe complications from the coronavirus as it urgently hunts for new ways to combat the deadly infection that is spreading worldwide. China is hoping that some older drugs could stop severe cytokine release syndrome (CRS), or cytokine storms, an overreaction of the

London, Mar 4: The UK government has reiterated its concern over the potential impact of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said it is continuing to follow the events in India closely. In response to an urgent question on “Recent Violence in India” tabled by Pakistani-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Khalid Mahmood in the House of Commons on Tuesday, UK’s Minister of State in the Foreign and

Tokyo, Mar 4: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co said on Wednesday it was developing a drug to treat COVID-19, the flu-like illness that has struck more than 90,000 people worldwide and killed over 3,000. The Japanese drugmaker is working on a plasma-derived therapy to treat high-risk individuals infected with the new coronavirus and will share its plans with members of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, it

Mar 3: Just hours after the ending of a week-long “reduction” in violence that was crucial for Donald Trump’s peace deal in Afghanistan, the Taliban struck again: On Monday, they killed three people and injured about a dozen at a football match in Khost province. This resumption of violence will not surprise anyone actually invested in peace for that troubled country. The point of the U.S.-Taliban