Category: WORLD NEWS

Chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin, thousands of people took to the streets Sunday across Russia’s vast expanse to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, keeping up the nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin. More than 3,000 people were detained by police, according to a monitoring group. Russian authorities mounted a massive effort to stem the tide of demonstrations after tens of thousands rallied across the country last weekend in the largest, most widespread show of discontent that Russia has seen in years. Yet despite threats…

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 Secretary of State Tony Blinken has underscored India’s role as a pre-eminent US partner in the Indo-Pacific during his maiden telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed ways to better seize the new opportunities and combat shared challenges in the region and beyond. It was Blinken’s first telephonic conversation with Jaishankar after he assumed the charge as America’s top diplomat early this week. They discussed issues of mutual concern, including COVID-19 vaccination efforts, regional developments and next steps in expanding bilateral ties, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price…

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he is “worried about the power of social media companies and called for creating a global mechanism to regulate them. Guterres, addressing a press conference on Thursday following his informal briefing to the UN member states on Priorities for 2021′, said he does not think we can live in a world where too much power is given to a reduced number of companies” Well, I think that the question is not the right question, if I may. The right question should be a company,…

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The Chinese government said Wednesday that actions like its warplanes flying near Taiwan last weekend are a warning against both foreign interference in Taiwan and any independence moves by the island. Asked about the flights, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said China’s military drills are to show the nation’s resolution to protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. “They are a stern warning against external interference and provocation from separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence, she said at a regular briefing, giving the Chinese government’s first…

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President Joe Biden signed an order Monday reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military. The new order, which Biden signed in the Oval Office during a meeting with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, overturns a ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office. It immediately prohibits any service member from being forced out of the military on the basis of gender identity. The decision comes as Biden plans to turn his attention to equity issues that…

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When Joe Biden took the oath of office as the 46th president, he became not only the oldest newly inaugurated US chief executive in history but also the oldest sitting president ever. Biden was born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 78 years, two months and one day old when he was sworn in on Wednesday. That’s 78 days older than President Ronald Reagan was when he left office in 1989. A look at how the country Biden now leads has changed over his lifetime and how his…

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Dr Anthony Fauci is back. In truth, the nation’s leading infectious-diseases expert never really went away. But after enduring nearly a year of darts and undermining comments from former President Donald Trump, Fauci now speaks with the authority of the White House again. He called it liberating Thursday to be backed by a science-friendly administration that has embraced his recommendations to battle COVID-19. One of the new things in this administration is, if you don’t know the answer, don’t guess, Fauci said in one pointed observation during a White House…

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 India on Thursday handed over one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Nepal under grant assistance in sync with its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra handed over the vaccine consignment to Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli during a function at the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar, officials said. Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi and senior government officials were also present on the occasion. In the first phase, the vaccines will be administered to frontline health workers, employees and security personnel, according to Tripathi. Earlier in…

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US President-elect Joe Biden plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on Day One of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the country without legal status, a massive reversal from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. The legislation puts Biden on track to deliver on a major campaign promise important to Latino voters and other immigrant communities after four years of President Donald Trump’s restrictive policies and mass deportations. It provides one of the fastest pathways to citizenship…

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Presidential traditions are usually known for their solemnity and carry the weight of future historical significance. This one began with cartoon turkeys and a reference to lunch. As he was preparing to leave the White House in January 1989, President Ronald Reagan wanted to leave a note for his successor, George H.W. Bush, and reached for a pad emblazoned with a cartoon by humorist Sandra Boynton under the phrase, Don’t Let the Turkeys Get You Down. It featured a collection of turkeys scaling a prone elephant, the symbol of both…

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