02-12-2020 LONDON: British officials authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday, green-lighting the world’s first shot against the virus that’s backed by rigorous science and taking a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. The go-ahead for the vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech comes …

02-12-2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report NEW DELHI/ OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks on the continuing farmers’ protests in India have not gone down well with the Hindu nationalist government, which dubbed his comments as “unwarranted”. “We have seen some ill-informed comments by Canadian leaders relating to …

01-12-2020 BEIJING/ CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE: China has refused to apologize for a controversial image depicting an Australia soldier cutting the throat of an Afghan child as New Zealand became the latest country to voice its criticism of the doctored picture, which was posted to social media by a foreign ministry spokesman. …

01-12-2020 TEHRAN/ TEL AVIV: Israel assassinated a top Iranian nuclear scientist using remote-controlled technology, a senior Iranian security official alleged on Monday. “Unfortunately, the operation was very complicated and was done using electronic equipment and no [perpetrators] were at the scene,” Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, …

01-12-2020 RIYADH/ JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia agreed to let Israeli airliners cross its airspace en route to the United Arab Emirates after talks between Saudi officials and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, news agency Reuters and Israeli media outlets have reported. Kushner and Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and …

30-11-2020 CAMBRIDGE: American biotechnology company Moderna Inc on Monday announced that its under-trial drug for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has shown 94.1% efficacy against the disease and a 100% efficacy in the severe cases. In a press release, the Massachusetts-based company said its coronavirus drug candidate, named mRNA-1273, was “generally well tolerated” …

30-11-2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies WASHINGTON/ RIYADH/ DOHA: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his team will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week for talks aimed at resolving the dispute between the neighboring Gulf countries, according to media reports in the United States. A senior official …

30-11-2020 TEHRAN: Iran has laid to rest assassinated nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in the capital Tehran as authorities blamed Israel for the killing and repeated vows to avenge it. The funeral on Monday, scaled down due to coronavirus protocols and attended only by Fakhrizadeh’s family and some military commanders, was …

Hyderabad Nov 30 (PMI): In view of upcoming GHMC elections to check the Bandobast arrangements and to instill confidence among the public Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad Shri VC Sajjanar, IPS, along with other officers today visited Madhapur zone. Along with CP Sir, Madhapur DCP Venkateshwarlu, SOT ADCP Sandeep, Kukatpally ACP …

30-11-2020 Bureau Report + Agencies CANBERRA/ MELBOURNE/ BEIJING: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was seeking an apology from China after a diplomat in Beijing tweeted an image purporting to show an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child. The tweet, posted by Chinese …