World

First probable case of children’s mystery liver disease detected in Asia

Japan's Health Ministry found one probable case of the mysterious severe acute hepatitis affecting children in the United States, Britain and 10 other countries, raising concerns that the disease is spreading outside of Europe and the US.The infection, likely the first case in Asia, was found in...

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First protest death boosts calls to oust Sri Lanka president

The first fatality after weeks of protests in Sri Lanka over food and fuel shortages intensified calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, with a key opposition leader saying Rajapaksa was "responsible for every death".Officers fired live rounds on Tuesday night (April 19) in the c...

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Climate crisis: Fund managers are sticking with fossil fuels

None of the world's largest asset managers has definitively called on fossil-fuel companies to stop the development of new oil and gas projects.Surely, one would think, given all the climate-conscious talk coming from Wall Street bigwigs like BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, that th...

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Two new Omicron sublineages discovered by S African scientists

South African scientists have discovered two new sublineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant, said Professor Tulio de Oliveira, who runs gene-sequencing institutions in the country.The lineages have been named BA.4 and BA.5, he said by text message and in a series of postings on Twitter.Still, Pr...

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Britain adds Putin’s daughters to sanctions list

Britain imposed sanctions on Vladi­mir Pu­tin's dau­ghters, following the same move by the US and tightening the squeeze on the Russian president following the invasion of Ukraine.Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova will be subject to travel bans and ass...

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Erdogan changes Turkey’s electoral laws to bolster his rule

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved on Wednesday (April 6) a set of changes to the country's electoral rules that would bolster his party's prospects and consolidate the shift toward an all-powerful presidency set to be tested at the ballot box next year.The amendments reduce the...

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Putin’s pre-war allies dominate Hungarian, Serbian elections

The two European leaders most closely allied to Russian President Vladimir Putin before he launched his invasion of Ukraine won decisive election victories on pledges to stay out of the war.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has spent 12 years consolidating his grip on power and clashing wit...

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US Senate passes China competition Bill to start talks with House

The Senate on Monday (March 28) passed its version of a long-stalled Bill to aid the domestic semiconductor industry and bolster US competitiveness with China, a key step needed to kick off negotiations with the House on final legislation.The Senate voted 68-28 for the plan, which includes US$52 bil...

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HK has no plans to relax flight suspension rule: Lam

Hong Kong's government isn't contemplating any "major concession" on flight suspension policies, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a briefing on Saturday (March 26).The suspension is a "public health infection control measure" not a "tug of war" between the Hon...

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Boris gets political lift as Ukraine overshadows Partygate

Boris Johnson's premiership was hanging by a thread last month after several senior aides walked out and more than a dozen of his own MPs publicly called on the British prime minister to resign.But now, his leadership appears to be back on track as the attention of his rebellious backbenchers tu...

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Canada clears world’s first plant-based Covid vaccine

The world's first plant-derived Covid-19 vaccine was cleared for use in Canada, creating a novel immunisation to combat the virus from a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp and Philip Morris International.The vaccine named Covifenz was jointly developed by Medicago Inc, a biopharma company...

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Volodymyr targets oligarchs as world focused on Russian buildup

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has downplayed the likelihood of a large-scale invasion as Russia masses troops near the border, he is targeting what he sees as another threat to his country's sovereignty: oligarchs.The President in a national address on Monday (Feb 14) slammed unid...

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CIA secretly collected ‘bulk’ data on American citizens: Senators

Two US senators said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been secretly collecting "bulk" information on American citizens without congressional oversight.The senators, Mr Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mr Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, expressed alarm in an April 13 letter to Ms Avril Haine...

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Burkina Faso denies coup bid after gunfire at barracks

The government of Burkina Faso denied that a coup attempt was under way after heavy gunfire was reported at military facilities on Sunday Jan 23, following months of protests calling for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to step down.Shooting was reported at the military airport in the capital Ou...

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Putin would burst Xi’s Olympic dream with a war in Ukraine

As the US and Europe mount increasingly frantic efforts to deter Russia from any invasion of Ukraine, it's Chinese President Xi Jinping who may have the biggest influence on Mr Vladimir Putin's timetable.The Russian President has said he will join Mr Xi at the opening ceremony on Feb 4 of th...

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Italy bans truffle hunting after swine fever outbreak poses risk

In an unusual twist of culinary fortunes, a swine disease outbreak in Italy means the harvest season for its renowned truffles is getting cut short.African swine fever was detected in wild boar this month in the country's north-west.To quell further spread of the illness, which is highly contagi...

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Ukraine reports massive cyber-attack on govt websites

Ukraine said a cyberattack brought down the websites of several government agencies Friday (Jan 14).Authorities didn't immediately comment on the source of the outage, which comes amid surging tensions with Russia due to its buildup of thousands of troops near the border.A spokesman for Ukraine&...

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UAE faces risk of inclusion on global watchlist over dirty money

The United Arab Emirates is at increased risk of being placed on a global watchdog's list of countries subject to more oversight for shortcomings in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, even after a recent government push to stamp out illicit transactions.The Financial Action Task...

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US sets global daily record of over 1m Covid cases

More than one million people in the United States were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday as the Omicron tsunami swamps every aspect of daily American life.The highly mutated variant drove US cases to a record, the most - by a large margin - that any country has ever reported since the pandemic began...

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German court convicts man in Russia-linked murder in Berlin

A German court convicted a 56-year-old man of an execution-style murder in Berlin, reviving a dark episode in recent relations with Russia and risking further diplomatic friction.The Berlin Regional Court on Wednesday ruled a man with links to Russia's FSB intelligence service was guilty of the ...