TOKYO: A Japanese advisory panel is set to approve the expansion of tougher measures against Covid-19 to 18 additional regions today, putting more than 70 per cent of the country under restrictions. The western prefectures of Osaka and Kyoto are among the areas covered by the measures, taken in response […]
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TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp will halt more production in Japan this month because COVID-19 infections among autoworkers had slowed supplies of parts, the company said on Monday (Jan 24). That disruption, which comes amid a shortage of semiconductors, will cut planned production this month by 65,000 vehicles, 18,000 more than […]
MELBOURNE: Australian Open favourite Daniil Medvedev labelled the tennis tour’s bathroom break rule as “stupid” after rowing with the chair umpire about freshening up during his sweaty fourth round win over Maxime Cressy on Monday (Jan 24). Russian Medvedev barked at French chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein over the recently updated […]
NEW YORK: Merck & Co’s antiviral pill will be evaluated in a large British trial as a possible treatment for patients hospitalised with Covid-19, amid the worldwide spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The pill, molnupiravir, has been approved by Britain for use in people with mild to […]
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, designed to give the world an unprecedented glimpse into the earliest stages of the universe, neared its gravitational parking space on Monday (Jan 24) in orbit around the sun, almost 1 million miles from Earth. With a final course-correcting manoeuvre by on-board rocket thrusters set […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan appointed its first female Supreme Court judge on Monday, after a nomination process that proved unusually contentious. Justice Ayesha Malik, 55, had been selected by a commission that decides on the promotion of judges. As is typical for Supreme Court judges, she was sworn in on live TV, […]
NEW DELHI: India’s Covid-19 infections, led by the Omicron variant, may see a sharp rise in the coming weeks, some top experts said, noting that the variant was already in community transmission and hospitals were seeing more patients despite a decline in cases in major cities. India reported 306,064 new […]
NUKU’ALOFA: The Tonga volcanic eruption unleashed explosive forces that dwarfed the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, Nasa scientists have said, as survivors on Monday described how the devastating Pacific blast “messed up our brains”. The Nasa Earth Observatory said the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano spewed debris as high as […]
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said today he was following “with concern” rising tensions in Ukraine, and called for a day of prayer for peace next week. “I am following with concern the rising tensions that threaten to inflict a new blow to peace in Ukraine, and call into question the […]
RIYADH: Thailand’s prime minister will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the Saudi foreign ministry said, in what will be the first high-level meeting between the two countries since a diplomatic row over a jewellery theft nearly three decades ago. Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Bangkok following the theft […]