International

15-12-2021 CAP-HAITIAN: At least 50 people have been killed after a truck carrying fuel exploded in the Haitian city of Cap-Haitien. The city’s Deputy Mayor Patrick Almonor said he saw “between 50 and 54 people burned alive” on Tuesday and “it is impossible to identify them.” Almonor added that “about …

14-12-2021 Bureau Report NEW DELHI: India reported its lowest tally of active COVID-19 cases in 18 months on Monday, but a sharp drop in the use of protective face masks is causing concern after a rise in the number of infections with the Omicron variant. Many people have been standing …

14-12-2021 JAKARTA: A 7.3-magnitude struck Indonesia Tuesday, with monitors briefly issuing a warning of the possibility of hazardous tsunami waves. However, the threat was later lifted. The epicentre was north of the island of Flores in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, where the quake sparked terror after hitting in the …

14-12-2021 PARIS/ WASHINGTON: Six months ago, if asked what they understood by “woke”, most French people would have assumed it had something to do with Chinese cooking. And yet today in Paris, the notion of “le wokisme” is suddenly all the rage. The government warns of a new cultural totalitarianism …

14-12-2021 Bureau Report + BBC NEW DELHI: It’s a frantic time at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in the western city of Pune, India’s oldest genome sequencing facility. As the country tries to contain the spread of the Omicron variant, laboratories like the NIV are working round the clock …

14-12-2021 MEXICO CITY: A large group of thousands of migrants from across Latin America, which has slowly been winding its way through Mexico, has clashed with police. Sunday’s clash happened as the group approached the capital, Mexico City. Their plan was to reach the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, …

14-12-2021 ABU DHABI/ TEHRAN: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan hosted Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday in the first ever public meeting between the United Arab Emirates’ de facto ruler and an Israeli leader. Israel’s ambassador to Abu Dhabi said the issue of Iran was …

13-12-2021 Bureau Report + Agencies NEW DELHI/ NEW YORK: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal Twitter account has been “very briefly compromised,” the prime minister’s office has said. A swiftly deleted tweet from his main @narendramodi handle declared India had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and was distributing the cryptocurrency …

13-12-2021 KENTUCKY/ WASHINGTON: A desperate search for survivors is under way in parts of six US states devastated by powerful tornadoes that have left at least 83 people dead. Dozens more people are missing and entire towns were destroyed by about 30 tornadoes on Friday. President Biden has declared a …

13-12-2021 DUBAI/ JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will travel to the United Arab Emirates to meet the Gulf state’s de facto ruler, in the first-ever visit to the UAE by an Israeli prime minister. Bennett will depart for the high-level public visit on Sunday and will meet Crown Prince …