International

MNA International Desk: Airlines around the world sank deeper into crisis on Tuesday as the worsening coronavirus epidemic and Italy’s lockdown hammered passenger numbers, forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and led to the delaying of plane orders. Some carriers face calamity, with Korean Air Lines warning the virus outbreak could threaten its survival after it scrapped more than 80% of its international capacity, grounding 100 of its 145 passenger aircraft. “The situation can get worse at any time and we cannot even predict how long it will last,” Woo Kee-hong, the president of South Korea’s biggest airline, said ...

MNA International Desk: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to visit Bangladesh for the celebration of the birth centenary of the Father the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, sources have said. Two Indian news outlets, Hindustan Times and India Today gave the information in their reports published on Monday. The year-long celebrations were scheduled to open amid massive festivities at the National Parade Ground in Dhaka on March 17. Bangladesh had announced on Sunday that it was scaling down and postponing several events related to the celebration following the detection of three coronavirus infections in the country. “The planned ...

MNA International Desk: Two more people succumbed to the novel coronavirus in Washington state, officials said on Saturday (local time), bringing the nationwide toll to 19, while the number of confirmed cases in New York rose to 89 and a cruise ship with infected passengers remained stranded outside San Francisco. More than half of all US states have reported cases of the coronavirus, which originated in China last year and causes the sometimes deadly respiratory illness COVID-19. As the outbreak takes root, daily life has become increasingly disrupted, with concerts and conferences cancelled and universities telling students to stay home ...

MNA International Desk: Kuwait suspended all flights to and from Bangladesh and other six countries for a week with an immediate effect from March 06 (Friday). The six other countries from where the expatriates will not be allowed to go to Kuwait are India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Philippines, Egypt and Syria. Issuing a circular on Friday, Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) said the expatriates with valid residency permits or previous entry visas as well as those from other airports who stayed in the above-mentioned countries for the past two weeks are prohibited from entering. But the citizens ...

MNA International Desk: Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe’s worst-hit country as the death toll and number of cases jumped. The total number of dead in Italy rose to 107 after 28 people died of the highly contagious virus over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said. Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said schools and universities all over the country would be closed from Thursday until at least March 15. Only those in the northern regions most heavily affected by the ...

MNA International Desk: North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles off the east coast into the sea on Monday, South Korea’s defense ministry said, in its first apparent weapons test of the year. The projectiles were launched from the North’s east coast towards the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, reports BBC. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said they were “believed to be short-range ballistic missiles”. Last May saw the first missile tests after an 18-month freeze. As the year progressed, many more followed. North Korea, which has historically stepped up missile testing in the spring, ...

MNA International Desk: Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended entry to the Kingdom for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque. It also suspended the entry of tourist visa holders from countries where the new coronavirus is spreading dangerously, Saudi Gazette reported citing a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. Millions of pilgrims every year visits Mekkah and Medina, two Islamic historic city for Hajj and Umrah. But the risk of coronavirus spread has reached new heights amid the current scenario all around the world. The foreign ministry said that the health authorities in Saudi Arabia ...

MNA International Desk: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm on Wednesday after days of clashes between Hindus and minority Muslims over a controversial citizenship law in some of the worst sectarian violence in the capital in decades. Twenty people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in the violence, a doctor said, with many suffering gunshot wounds amid looting and arson attacks that coincided with a visit to India by US President Donald Trump, reports Reuters. Police and paramilitary forces patrolled the streets in far greater numbers on Wednesday. Parts of the riot-hit areas were deserted. “Peace and harmony ...

MNA International Desk: US President Donald Trump Trump announced that India has signed a deal to purchase more than $3 billion of advanced military equipment, including helicopters. Trump also described trip to India as ‘unforgettable,’ ‘extraordinary’ and an expression of ‘love’ while he was delivering a joint statement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their bilateral talks in New Delhi on Tuesday, reports AP. He mentioned that the two leaders made progress on what he describes as a “comprehensive trade deal” after talks. Trump also said he and first lady Melania Trump “have been awed by the majesty of ...

MNA International Desk: A viral outbreak that began in China has infected nearly 78,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. The latest figures reported by each government’s health authority as of Saturday in Beijing: — Mainland China: 2,345 deaths among 76,288 cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei — Hong Kong: 69 cases, 2 deaths — Macao: 10 cases — Japan:754cases, including 634 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 3 deaths — South Korea: 433 cases, 2 deaths — Singapore: ...

MNA International Desk: A former Republican congressman has denied he offered a pardon to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on behalf of US President Donald Trump. Assange’s lawyer said Dana Rohrabacher claimed to be acting “on instructions” from Mr Trump in offering clemency. In return, the president was said to have wanted Assange to say Russia was not involved in leaking emails during the 2016 US election. But Mr Rohrabacher, a former California representative, rejected the claims. “At no time did I talk to President Trump about Julian Assange. Likewise, I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with ...

MNA International Desk: Hundreds of people began disembarking a quarantined cruise ship off Japan on Wednesday as the death toll from the new coronavirus in mainland China passed 2,000 and the number of new cases in the country fell for a second straight day. Around 500 passengers were due to disembark the virus-hit Diamond Princess docked at Yokohama near Tokyo, public broadcaster NHK said, ending an ordeal that began when the ship was quarantined on February 3 after a former passenger was diagnosed with the virus in Hong Kong. There were also more promising signs out of China, where the ...

MNA International Desk: The head of a leading hospital in China’s central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak, died of the disease on Tuesday, state television said, becoming the second prominent Chinese doctor to have succumbed to the pathogen. Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, died at 10:30am, it said. Earlier this month, millions in China mourned the death of Li Wenliang, a doctor who was previously reprimanded for issuing an early warning about the coronavirus. Tens of thousands of medical workers have been fighting to contain the spread of the coronavirus, believed to have ...

MNA International Desk: Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said he would help Pakistan stay off a terrorism financing blacklist at a meeting of a global finance watchdog, a move he suggested would counter “political pressure” from Islamabad’s critics. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which tackles money laundering, told Islamabad late last year that it could face blacklisting if it continued to apply inadequate controls over terrorism financing. The FATF is meeting next week in France, and support from Turkey and longtime allies like China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia could help Pakistan remain off the blacklist. A minimum of ...

MNA International Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted today that he was “extremely delighted” that US President Donald Trump will visit India on February 24 and 25. “India will accord a memorable welcome to our esteemed guests. This visit is a very special one and it will go a long way in further cementing India-USA friendship,” PM Modi tweeted. “India and USA share a common commitment to democracy and pluralism. Our nations are cooperating extensively on a wide range of issues. Robust friendship between our nations augurs well not only for our citizens but also for the entire world,” posted ...

MNA International Desk: Taiwan expanded its restrictions on visitors from Hong Kong and Macau on Monday to freeze the entry of many residents from the two Chinese-run cities to help control the spread of the new coronavirus. Taiwan has been gradually stepping up its controls on visitors from both Hong Kong and Macau as well as mainland China. It has already stopped mainland Chinese who live in China from coming and suspended new visa issuance for Hong Kong and Macau residents. The new rule for Hong Kong and Macau residents will exclude people on business trips or those being transferred ...

MNA International Desk: Thai security forces have killed a soldier who shot dead at least 29 people during a brutal rampage on Saturday. Police and military personnel stormed the Terminal 21 shopping mall in the northwestern city of Nakhon Ratchasima to face suspected gunman Sgt Jakrapanth Thomma. Of those who died, 23 were civilians, three were police officers and three were army officers. Officials said the soldier, who has been confirmed dead, was angry over a land deal. His death brought an end to an hours-long stand-off at the centre, during which automatic gunfire was heard and one security officer ...

MNA International Desk: The new coronavirus epidemic in mainland China is almost certain to become more deadly than SARS on Saturday as the death toll passed 700, health experts warned of mask shortages and more cases were confirmed on a quarantined Japanese cruise ship. The number of new infections in China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, rose on Friday from a day earlier, Chinese health officials said, reversing two days of declines and showing the difficulty of predicting the epidemic’s peak. The death toll in mainland China jumped by 86 to 722, and is poised to pass the ...

MNA International Desk: The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China passed 490 on Wednesday, as two US airlines suspended flights to Hong Kong following the first fatality there and 10 cases were confirmed on a quarantined Japanese cruise ship. China’s National Health Commission said another 65 deaths had been recorded on Tuesday, bringing the toll on the mainland to 490, mostly in and around the locked-down central city of Wuhan where the virus emerged late last year, reports Reuters. There have been two deaths outside mainland China. A 39-year-old man in Hong Kong with an underlying illness who ...

MNA International Desk: The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by US President Donald Trump, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday. Abbas was in Cairo to address the Arab League, which backed the Palestinians in their opposition to Trump’s plan. The blueprint, endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state that excludes Jewish settlements built in occupied territory and is under near-total Israeli security control. “We’ve informed the Israeli side … that ...

MNA International Desk: India said on Thursday a patient in Kerala had tested positive for novel coronavirus, the first case in the country of the virus which originated in China and has so far killed 170. The patient was a student of Wuhan University in China, India’s government said in a statement. The patient is stable and in isolation at a hospital, the statement added. A senior Indian government official said bringing Indian nationals from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, was not the best option due to the risk of infection but increased pressure from the citizens, most of ...

MNA International Desk: Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday strongly rejected the US Middle East peace plan as “disgraceful.” In a statement released hours after US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the so-called Deal of the Century, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said it is the “betrayal of the century” and is “doomed to failure.” He said, “Palestine belongs to the Palestinians. “The Zionist regime (of Israel) is an occupying regime, and the only way to settle the Palestinian cause is a referendum among the real inhabitants of the lands,” the Iranian spokesman added. Given the importance of the Palestinian ...

MNA International Desk: A passenger plane from Afghanistan’s Ariana Airlines crashed on Monday in a Taliban-held area of Ghazni province, local officials said. Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the plane went down around 1:10 p.m. local time in Deh Yak district, which is held by the Taliban. Two provincial council members also confirmed the crash. The number of people on board and their fate was not immediately known, nor was the cause of the crash. Ariana Airlines, Afghanistan’s national carrier, dismissed the claim that one of their planes had crashed in a statement on their website, saying ...

MNA International Desk: The Chinese Football Association (CFA) confirmed on Sunday that next month’s Tokyo Olympic women’s football qualifying matches would be moved from China to Sydney, Australia, amid concerns over the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. “In consideration of the widespread of the 2019-nCoV virus across China, after the negotiations with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the CFA decided not to host the qualifying matches to ensure the health of all athletes, coaches and working staff in the participating teams and the successfully running of the important Olympic qualifications,” said China’s football governing body, reports Xinhua on Sunday. The Chinese central ...

MNA International Desk: A deadly viral outbreak in China has now killed 41 people, while the number of infected cases has soared to nearly 1,300, authorities said Saturday. The 15 new deaths all took place in Wuhan, the city of 11 million where the deadly respiratory contagion first emerged, the Hubei Health Commission said. At least 444 new cases of the virus have been found, raising the total number to 1,287, the National Health Commission said in a separate statement. The disease has spread to 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Wuhan and 13 other cities in Hubei have been ...

MNA International Desk: Three Americans died Thursday when a C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker crashed while battling wildfires in the Snowy Monaro region of Australia’s southern New South Wales state, officials said. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the deaths and crash in comments to reporters as Australia attempts to deal with an unprecedented fire season that has left a large swath of destruction. Coulson Aviation in the US state of Oregon said in a statement that one of its C-130 Lockheed large air tankers was lost after it left Richmond in New South Wales with retardant for a ...

MNA International Desk: The Indian Supreme Court on Wednesday made it clear that it will not grant any stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) without hearing the Centre and said it may refer pleas challenging the validity of the Act to a larger Constitution bench. A Bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde is hearing a batch of 144 pleas challenging the validity of CAA, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, told the Bench that the government has been given ...