25 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Reports CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: A maximum of 10 people will be allowed to attend funerals and five to attend weddings in Australia under new curbs in the fight against coronavirus. Prime Minister Scott Morrison emerged from a cabinet meeting to announce a …
Read More »WHO warns coronavirus pandemic ‘accelerating’ worldwide
24 March, 2020 GENEVA/ NEW YORK/ LONDON: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease pandemic is “accelerating”, with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed. It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid-19 to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000, and just …
Read More »India locks down over 100 million people
23 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Reports + Int’l Monitoring Desk NEW DELHI/ RIYADH/ DUBAI/ ISLAMABAD/ LONDON/ NEW YORK: The novel coronavirus in India rose 324 on Monday, according to Health Ministry data, out of them 41 are foreign nationals and Maharashtra is worst hit with 63 confirmed cases. …
Read More »Corona-cases cross 300,000 with 13,000 deaths globally
22 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Reports ROME/ NEW DELHI/ MELBOURNE/ KARACHI: Globally, 186 countries have been affected, more than 13,000 people have died and more than 300,00 infected by the disease as it spreads rapidly to new territories while 92,000 people have recovered. The epicentre of the …
Read More »Pakistan urges America to halt sanctions on Iran
21 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has called on the US to lift “unjust” sanctions on Iran so its western neighbor can focus on winning the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. “I would stress and insist to the international community to …
Read More »Total cases 250,000: Recovered 80,000: Deaths 10,000
20 March, 2020 LONDON/ PARIS/ NEW YORK/ KARACHI/ SYDNEY: Death toll passes 10,000, confirmed cases near 250,000, more than 80,000 recovered UK policies to limit the spread of coronavirus would be needed for “at least most of a year” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to obey health advice …
Read More »Four men executed for Delhi bus rape & murder
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report 20 March, 2020 NEW DELHI/ NIRBHAYA: Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were sentenced to death by a trial court in 2013 over the charge of gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi in 2012. The four were hanged …
Read More »Mass prayer event in Bangladesh fuels coronavirus fear
19 March, 2020 RAIPUR/ DHAKA: Tens of thousands of people gathered in Bangladesh for a mass prayer session, amid fears that it could lead to a wider outbreak. Local police Chief Tota Miah told AFP News Agency that 10,000 Muslims had gathered in Raipur town to pray “healing verses” from …
Read More »Taliban to begin prisoner releases
19 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ KABUL/ WASHINGTON: The coronavirus pandemic adds urgency to prisoner releases agreed to by the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has said, advising they take place “as soon as possible”. “No prisoners have …
Read More »Australia bans ‘non-essential’ large gatherings
18 March, 2020 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: Australia has banned “non-essential” gatherings of more than 100 people in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced sweeping new measures on Wednesday, including discouraging travel overseas but he said schools, public transport and public squares would remain open, …
Read More »