Swiss gov’t urges voters to reject burqa ban in March referendum
The Swiss government recommended on Tuesday that voters reject a proposal in a planned March 7 referendum to ban full facial coverings such as burqas and niqabs worn by some Muslim ...
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Germany set to tighten work-from-home rules amid fears of Covid variants
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to agree with regional leaders on Tuesday stricter requirements for working from home among other measures as they try to rein in the coronavirus, ...
British firms call for immediate $10.3bn in Covid-19 aid
British firms called on Tuesday for another £7.6 billion ($10.3 billion) of emergency government help, saying they cannot wait until finance minister Rishi Sunak’s March budget to learn if they will ...
Purge continues in Turkey as 238 detained over Gulen links
Turkey has ordered the arrest of 238 people in an operation targeting suspects in the military allegedly linked to a Muslim preacher who Ankara says was behind a 2016 failed coup, state-owned ...
Argentina quake of magnitude 6.8 shakes homes, buildings; no injuries report
An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck west-central Argentina late on Monday, followed by at least five aftershocks that shook buildings and sent products tumbling off supermarket shelves, but there were no ...
Turkey imposes advertising ban on ‘digital fascists’
Photo shows Turkey’s Deputy Transport and Infrastructure Minister Omer Fatih Sayan
“We will never allow digital fascism and anarchism to dominate in Turkey,” the country’s Deputy Transport and ...
LNG price rockets as spot market supplies dwindle
Global energy majors including Royal Dutch Shell and Total are expected to benefit most from January’s gas price spike, beating rival trading houses and non-integrated producers thanks to their ...
Aubameyang double gives Arsenal win over Newcastle
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck twice as Arsenal defeated Newcastle United 3-0 in the Premier League on Monday, condemning Steve Bruce’s side to a ninth game without a win in all ...
Guatemala ups pressure on US-bound migrant caravan, clears road
Guatemalan security forces on Monday cleared a road of hundreds of people in a mostly Honduran migrant caravan that had camped out overnight when authorities barred it from advancing toward ...
Disneyland Paris delays reopening to April 2 due to Covid
Disneyland Paris said on Monday it was postponing its reopening by almost two months, to April 2, due to the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Due to the prevailing conditions in ...
US plans to sanction Russian vessel involved in Nord Stream 2
The United States has informed European allies about plans to sanction Russian vessel “Fortuna”, which is involved in construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, German ...
Scientists see new evidence S.African variant binds more readily
Scientists have new biological evidence that the so-called South African coronavirus variant binds more readily and strongly to human cells, making it more infectious, top local epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim ...
US and China clash at WHO over scientific mission in Wuhan
The United States called on China on Monday to allow an expert team from the World Health Organization (WHO) to interview “care givers, former patients and lab workers” in the ...
Spain’s elderly get second Covid-19 shot
Spain has begun administering second shots of the coronavirus vaccine to elderly nursing home residents, while a court in Seville ruled on Monday that a home could inoculate an incapacitated ...
Woman with links to deposed cardinal to go on trial, Vatican says
The embezzlement trial of a woman with links to deposed Cardinal Angelo Becciu will start soon, Vatican judicial officials said on Monday, but it was not yet clear if the ...
UAE, Israel postpone visa exemption deal over Covid-19 worries
The United Arab Emirates has postponed the implementation of a visa-exemption agreement with Israel after Israel required anyone entering from the Gulf state to be quarantined as a COVID-19 precaution, ...
Joy and caution as Greek shops re-open amid strict safety limits
Shops in Greece reopened for the first time in two months on Monday as the government took its first steps towards easing coronavirus restrictions, in a bid to breathe life ...
The global scramble for shots has intensified, world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk
The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that the world was on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” on distributing COVID-19 vaccines, urging countries and manufacturers ...
Germany prepares for further measures despite drop in infections
Germany‘s health minister said on Monday that although measures to contain the coronavirus had started to have an effect, more needed to be done to bring it permanently under ...
Vaccine manufacturing is lumpy, supply not as good as hoped, UK says
Britain’s vaccine rollout is limited by a “lumpy” manufacturing process with production changes by Pfizer and a delay by AstraZeneca that could lead to brief supply disruption, Vaccine Deployment ...
Players get creative to handle lockdown boredom
Subathing by the window, hitting balls against a mattress and running sprints in corridors, quarantined tennis players are getting creative as they try to kill time in their hotel rooms ...
Despite win in Sri Lanka, England struggling with bubble life
England secured a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first test on Monday but there will be only muted celebrations at the tourists’ hotel as life in a bio-secure ...
Dark days are far from over: Five questions for the ECB
The European Central Bank will this week face more questions about an increasingly challenging outlook only a month after it unleashed fresh stimulus to bolster the euro zone economy.
Policymakers ...
China economy saw 6.5% growth in Q4; economy in ‘expansionary zone’
China’s economy picked up speed in the fourth quarter, with growth beating expectations as it ended a rough coronavirus-striken 2020 in remarkably good shape and remained poised to expand further ...