Category: WORLD NEWS

President Donald Trump faces a critical personal challenge in grappling with the new coronavirus outbreak: Asking Americans to believe him after he and some of his top advisers have contradicted federal scientists in playing down the threat. Keenly aware of the stakes not just for public health but also his credibility, Trump conducted a lengthy press conference Wednesday evening aimed at reassuring everyone that he has the crisis well in hand. Trump surrounded himself with his administration’s top health experts. And he encouraged Americans to be prepared for the virus’…

Read More

Democratic presidential front-runner Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday slammed President Donald Trump for selling weapons to India, saying that the US should instead partner with New Delhi to fight climate change to save the planet.Sanders, who has won the Nevada and New Hampshire primaries and tied in Iowa, made the comments after Trump, who is on a two-day visit to India, on Monday announced that the US will sign defence trade deals worth USD 3 billion with India.In an address at a massive “Namaste Trump” rally at Motera stadium in…

Read More

Israel said Sunday it struck bases of the Islamic Jihad militant group near Damascus, while Syria claimed that its air defences shot down “enemy missiles”. The Israeli army said in a statement that fighter jets “struck Islamic Jihad terror targets south of Damascus,” following rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. “In the Adeliyah region, outside of Damascus, an Islamic Jihad compound was struck, used as a hub of Islamic Jihad’s activity in Syria,” it added, while confirming a number of other strikes in Gaza. Islamic Jihad operates in both the…

Read More

Iranians began voting Friday in a parliamentary election which conservatives are expected to dominate, capitalising on public anger against moderate conservative President Hassan Rouhani over a ravaged economy, corruption and multiple crises. State television showed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casting the first ballot in Tehran. As he voted, Khamenei called on all Iranians to take part in the election “as soon as possible,” saying that doing so would “guarantee the country’s national interests”. The 11th parliamentary election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution comes after steeply escalating…

Read More

US President Donald Trump has made yet another tall claim about the size of the crowd that will welcome him in Ahmedabad, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told him that there will 10 million people to greet him on his arrival for his maiden visit to India.President Trump and First Lady Melania are scheduled to travel to Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi on February 24 and 25.Speaking to reporters at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday, Trump said that Modi told him that “we’ll have 7 million…

Read More

All passengers and crew on board a ship quarantined off Japan have now been tested for the new coronavirus, the government said Tuesday, as more countries moved to evacuate citizens from the boat. South Korea became the latest to announce it would remove its citizens from the Diamond Princess, where more than 400 people have tested positive for COVID-19. Japan has faced criticism for its handling of the situation, with dozens of new infections detected almost daily since the ship arrived in early February. But it has defended its approach…

Read More

US President Donald Trump has said it is a great honour that Facebook has ranked him number one and Prime Minister Narendra Modi number two on their popularity on the social networking site, ahead of his maiden visit to India. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will pay a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, it was announced this week. Taking to Twitter, he claimed to be the number one on Facebook, citing a remark of Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder…

Read More

The death toll in China due to the novel coronavirus epidemic has crossed 1,000, while the confirmed cases have gone over 42,000, health officials announced on Tuesday. As many as 108 deaths were reported on Monday and 2,478 new cases of the lethal disease were confirmed, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.The death toll due to nCoV rose to 1,016 and the confirmed cases have gone up to 42,638, according to the commission.Among the deaths, 103 were in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, and one…

Read More

The US Senate on Wednesday acquitted President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction to Congress – giving him a major political victory in an election year. The Republican-majority Senate voted 52-48 to acquit Trump of abuse of power and 53-47 to acquit him of obstruction of Congress, thus preventing the Democrats’ move to overthrow him, for which they required two-thirds of votes in the 100-member House. The ruling Republican party has 53 seats while the Democrats have 47. Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a…

Read More

The US is working closely with Beijing to combat the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump said, as the deadly infection claimed 490 lives in China and spread to over 20 countries, including India and America, prompting the World Health Organisation to declare a global health emergency. The US on Tuesday evacuated over 300 more people on two new flights out of the Chinese city Wuhan, the epicentre of the fast-spreading new coronavirus. Last week, it evacuated 195 Americans from Wuhan. “Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases,” Trump said…

Read More