HONG KONG: Having discussions and making “general remarks” about Hong Kong’s coronavirus strategy is not illegal and does not violate the Chinese territory’s national security law, the government said today, as it grapples to control a rise in cases. Hong Kong has followed China in sticking to a zero-Covid policy […]
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Moscow: Russia said on Sunday (Jan 30) it wants “mutually respectful” relations with the United States and denied posing a threat to Ukraine, as the UK said it was preparing fresh sanctions against Moscow. Tensions have soared between Moscow and Washington after Western governments accused Russia of amassing tens of […]
MANILA: The Philippines’ justice ministry has ordered law enforcers to investigate a post on the social media platform TikTok threatening to assassinate presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr., acting on a tip received by its cybercrime unit. “If a bomb joke is actionable, so is a threat of assassination, whether true […]
BEIJING: China has selected 15 pilot zones and identified several areas of application to “carry out the innovative application of blockchain” technology, according to a joint government statement on Sunday (Jan 30). The pilot zones include areas in China’s major cities of Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou and […]
BEIJING: Daily Covid-19 infections among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics jumped to 19 yesterday from two a day earlier, as Games organisers warned of more cases in coming days. Including the athletes and officials, 36 Games-related personnel were found to be infected – 29 when they […]
ROME: Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has asked Sergio Mattarella to carry on as president for a second term after political leaders failed to find an alternative, compromise candidate, a political source said today. The source said Draghi had told Mattarella he needed to remain in office “for the good […]
ZURICH : Austria will begin easing Covid-19 related restrictions next week, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference today, allowing shops and restaurants to remain open longer and easing restriction on the unvaccinated. The moves come as the Omicron variant leads to reduced hospitalisations despite high infection numbers. From February […]
PARIS: When it comes to music, we’re not all equal. Some have a naturally beautiful voice while others can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Start-up The Choral Hub wants to encourage all music lovers to sing along, and have fun doing it, with its new app. The Tchzant app […]
BERLIN: Germany reported another record number of daily new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, crossing the 200,000 threshold for the first time, as the country debates whether to impose compulsory vaccinations. The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 203,136 positive tests in the last 24 hours, 69,600 cases more […]
Meta Platforms Inc’s digital currency venture Diem Association is winding down and selling its technology to California-based Silvergate Capital Corp for about $200 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Meta, formerly Facebook Inc, first unveiled plans for Diem, known as Libra […]