Category: WORLD NEWS

Downing Street on Saturday went into strong denial mode after a political row broke out over a UK media report claiming that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide had attended secret meetings of the scientific group advising the government on its Covid-19 response strategy. The Guardian’ claimed that Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s chief strategic adviser, and an official associated with the Brexit campaign were part of the meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). This triggered Opposition anger as it implies government influence over what is pegged as…

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US President Donald Trump has threatened to terminate the trade deal with China if Beijing did not honour its provisions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that originated in the country. While China has reported 82,788 novel coronavirus cases, including 4,632 fatalities, the US registered over 824,600 cases and more than 45,290 deaths — the highest in the world. China and the US in January signed Phase-1 of the trade deal as the world’s two top economic powers move forward to end their bitter tit-for-tat two-year tariff war that…

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Pakistan batting great Zaheer Abbas says the PCB has been “soft” in dealing with corruption in country’s cricket which, according to him, has been as damaging for the game here as the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team.   The former captain was giving his views on the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) recent move, asking the government to criminalise fixing in sports. “It is the right thing to do for the Pakistan board because for too long, we have been soft while dealing with corruption cases and these have…

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The South Korean government said Tuesday no unusual activity has been detected in North Korea after unconfirmed reports described leader Kim Jong Un as in fragile condition after heart surgery.   The presidential Blue House says it had no information about the rumors on Kim’s health. Speculation often surfaces about North Korea’s leadership based on attendance at important state events. Kim, who is in his mid-30s, missed the celebration of his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung on April 15, the country’s most important holiday. At his last…

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China has classified the coronavirus epicentre Wuhan as a low-risk area, days after it revised the city’s death toll by 50 per cent, even as 16 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the country, health officials said on Sunday. According to the risk criteria defined in a guideline issued by China’s State Council, cities, counties and districts with no newly confirmed cases in the last 14 days are categorised as low-risk areas. Those with fewer than 50 cases or those with over 50 but without a concentrated outbreak are classified…

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Coronavirus deaths have surged past 150,000 worldwide with nearly a quarter of them in the United States, where President Donald Trump lent his support to protesters rallying against lockdown orders.   Evidence is mounting that social distancing successfully slowed the pandemic after more than half of humanity — 4.5 billion people — were confined to their homes. Governments around the world are now grappling with when and how to ease lockdowns that have crippled the global economy, even as the COVID-19 death toll climbs further in hard-hit countries. Demonstrators in…

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London’s transport authorities on Friday announced new measures to protect bus drivers from coronavirus, as colleagues held a minute’s silence for 20 who have already died.   Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose father was a bus driver, led tributes to the victims as authorities said passengers would no longer be able to use the front door near the driver. “It breaks my heart that 20 London bus workers have lost their lives to #COVID19. It could easily have been my dad and his friends,” Khan wrote on Twitter. “Our transport workers…

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The US has “passed the peak” on new coronavirus cases, President Donald Trump has said and predicted that some states would reopen this month. The US has over 637,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and over 30,826 deaths, the highest for any country in the world. At the daily White House coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, Trump said new guidelines to reopen the country would be announced on Thursday after he speaks to governors. “We’ll be the comeback kids, all of us,” he said. “We want to get our country back.” The Trump…

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President Donald Trump has named six Indian-American corporate leaders, including Sunder Pichai from Google and Satya Nadella from Microsoft, to his Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups formed to revive the US economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has roped in over 200 top American leaders from various industries and sections to create nearly a dozen and half different groups, who will advise him and offer recommendations on how to revive the American economy, which has hit an unprecedented ebb in just a few weeks due to the deadly…

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A group of over 50 senior clerics in Pakistan has warned the government against the ban on religious congregations amidst the coronavirus outbreak and said the authorities should instead abide by religious norms and allow more worshippers in mosques to seek forgiveness from Allah. The government has banned prayer congregations of more than five people as part of its measures to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus, which has infected over 5,715 people in Pakistan. Despite the government’s pleas to observe social distancing, over 53 senior clerics of Rawalpindi…

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