#Automotive

1.6 million residents were banned from leaving Beijing on Wednesday as two Covid-19 cases linked to a new UK virus variant were found in the Chinese capital. China has lauded its response to the pandemic, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan just over a year ago but has been broadly brought to heel, […]

By Sebastian Smith and Michael Mathes Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th US president Wednesday, drawing a curtain on the most tumultuous administration of modern times and charting a new course to tackle Covid-19 and unite a splintered nation. Outgoing President Donald Trump entered the White House four years ago as a […]

Beijing — As China’s Shijiazhuang city aims to curb a growing Covid-19 outbreak, construction crews are working round the clock to build thousands of prefabricated rooms to function as a massive quarantine facility.   Shijiazhuang, a city in northern China and the provincial capital of Hebei province, has the bulk of new Covid-19 cases. In […]

Singapore—Mr Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, has received a very specific mission from Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Post-Brexit, Mr Sunak will be decreasing the amount of red tape that the other European nations have to contend with. A full-page spread in the tabloid Daily Mail on Sunday (Jan 17)  […]

From bitter social media posts to workouts using mattresses as hitting partners, dozens of the world’s best tennis players confined to Australian hotels for two weeks are dealing with their confinement in contrasting ways. The Australian Open in Melbourne has been delayed three weeks until February 8 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and has run […]

Nearly three million people were put under lockdown in China Monday after a surge in coronavirus cases linked to a travelling salesman in the country’s northeast. While China has largely brought the virus under control, a sharp rise in cases in the past few weeks has prompted fresh lockdowns, travel restrictions and multiple rounds of […]

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged Monday to tackle surging coronavirus cases and restore normal life “as soon as possible” as polls showed plunging support for his government. Suga, who was speaking at the opening of a new parliament session, has only been in office since September, but has seen approval ratings nosedive over his […]

by Sunghee Hwang The de facto chief of South Korea’s Samsung business empire was convicted Monday over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two and a half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decision-maker. Lee Jae-yong, vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, […]

At least 81 people have died, with more than 250 seriously injured, after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island on Friday (Jan 15). According to an update on Monday (Jan 18) by disaster mitigation spokesman Raditya Jati, rescue workers have stepped up efforts to find people buried beneath the rubble. The epicenter of the […]

Sitamarhi (India) — With the start of a vaccination programme against Covid-19 in India on Saturday (Jan 16), another firm step is being taken in the battle against the virus in the country. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the daily life of every individual in some way or other around the world. Millions of people […]

by Joseph SOTINEL After the latest wild ride took the poster child of cryptocurrencies above $40,000 before a stomach-churning plunge, the million dollar question won’t go away: how much is bitcoin actually worth? The virtual currency barrelled to new highs to rise more than 400 percent over the past year, before promptly sliding some 20 […]

by AFP Bureaus Pharma giant Pfizer tried to ease concerns in Europe about deliveries of its coronavirus vaccine as nations across the world doubled down on restrictions to fight the rampaging pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down, with infections surging past 94 million and more than two million deaths, and […]

NASA conducted a test firing of the engines for its giant Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket on Saturday but they shut down earlier than planned, the space agency said. The “hot-fire” test at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was supposed to last a little over eight minutes — the time the engines would burn […]

An Australian father and son have been released after almost six months in detention on unknown charges in Qatar, multiple sources said Sunday. Professor Lukman Thalib, 58, and his son Ismail Talib, 24, were reportedly arrested in the Qatari capital Doha by local authorities in July. The pair have been released from Qatari custody, said a […]

A senior official at the Greek sailing federation has been axed in the wake of sex abuse allegations by one of the country’s top Olympians, the federation said. The federation late Saturday said it was “shocked” by the claim put forward by two-time Olympic medallist Sofia Bekatorou, which has sparked a flurry of revelations by […]