Air pollution shortened average Indian life expectancy by 5.2 years: Report
New Delhi: Air pollution has shortened the average Indian life expectancy by 5.2 years and residents of Delhi could see 9.4 years added to their lives if pollution were reduced to meet the WHO guideline, according to a new report. The World Health Organisation guideline stipulates that PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in […]
Fighting Corona: Virus vaccine put to final test in thousands of volunteers
Washington: The world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine study got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government — one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race. There’s still no guarantee that the experimental vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health […]
Shekhar Kapur comments Bollywood can”t handle Rahman”s talent, composer says ”let”s move on”
Mumbai: Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on Sunday said composer AR Rahman”s Oscar win was proof that Bollywood can”t handle his talent, a day after the music director claimed there is a “gang” in the Hindi film industry that is preventing him from getting work. Rahman”s statement came amidst a raging ”insider versus outsider” debate in Bollywood […]
US agents enter Chinese consulate compound in Houston; Beijing vows to respond
Houston/Beijing: US federal agents and law enforcement officers have entered the Chinese consulate compound in Houston along with locksmiths after the mission was shut down, amidst spiralling tensions between Washington and Beijing. The Trump Administration ramped up its confrontation with China this week, ordering Beijing’s consulate in Houston to close over concerns about economic espionage. […]
Pak moving closer to flatten coronavirus curve; but progress might be affected during Eid, Muharram: Minister
Islamabad: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that Pakistan was moving closer to flatten the coronavirus curve due to the government’s successful lockdown policy but warned that the progress could be affected by the upcoming festivals of Eid and Muharram. Pakistan has reported 1,487 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking […]
UNGA President-elect postpones visit to Pakistan due to some technical flight problems
United Nations: President-elect of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir on Sunday said he has postponed his visit to Pakistan, citing “some technical flight problems. Bozkir was slated to visit Pakistan on July 26-27 on the invitation of Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. We had to postpone my visit to […]
Around 6500 Pak militants still operating in Afghanistan: UN report
United Nations: An estimated 6,000-6,500 Pakistani militants are in neighbouring Afghanistan, most of them with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, posing a threat to both the countries, a UN report has said. The 26th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIS, al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities said that the terror group al-Qaida […]
Pakistan bans over 100 textbooks for not showing PaK part of country
Lahore: Pakistan’s Punjab government has banned over 100 textbooks taught at schools after finding in them ‘blasphemous and objectionable’ content such as not showing Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK) as part of the country. Some books had not even printed the correct date of the birth of Pakistan’s founder Quaid-e-Azam’ Muhammad Ali Jinnah and national poet Allama […]
Thaw: Taliban say ready for talks with Kabul after Eid holiday
Islamabad: The Taliban say they are ready for talks with Afghanistan’s political leadership after the Muslim holiday of Eid ul Adha at the end of July, offering to hand over the last of the government prisoners in a week’s time, providing the government frees the last of its Taliban prisoners. The offer made by Taliban’s […]
US-China relations reach a turning point
Beijing: Four decades after the US established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two may have reached a turning point. Tensions have risen to new heights on what has always been a rocky road, as the ambitions of a rising superpower increasingly clash with those of the established one. China ordered the […]