JOHANNESBURG: A new tuberculosis treatment that slashes costs and the pill burden for patients will be rolled out in five high-incidence countries this year, international medical research body the Aurum Institute said on Wednesday. TB — a respiratory disease that is preventable and treatable yet kills more than 1.4 million people every year — is chronically underfunded, with diagnosis and …

LONDON: A minute’s silence was held in parliament on Wednesday for Captain Sir Tom Moore, the 100-year-old British war veteran who became a national hero for his extraordinary fundraising efforts during the pandemic. MPs in the House of Commons bowed their heads in tribute before Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s weekly question and answer session. Johnson called for the country to …

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday said founder Jeff Bezos would step down as CEO and become executive chairman, as the company reported a third consecutive record profit and quarterly sales above $100 billion for the first time. This summer, Bezos, 57, will hand the keys of the world’s largest online retailer to Andy Jassy, head of its cloud computing …

KARACHI: The Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) held a seminar/webinar on ‘Emerging geostrategic contestation in Asia-Pacific: challenges and opportunities for Pakistan’ on Wednesday. Retired Lt Gen Tariq Waseem Ghazi, who inaugurated the event, said in his address that Pakistan had always punched above its weight. “We have always been involved in somebody else’s game, somebody else’s war, considering ourselves …

NEW DELHI: Ditches, concertina wire, nails hammered into roads, concrete girders, high walls and tiers of containers have sprung up around Delhi to protect the Indian capital from its own farmers, and a former diplomat likened the scene on Wednesday to the Berlin Wall in 1989. The farmers said they were determined to continue their peaceful protest and a major …

Delhi Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Praveer Ranjan on Thursday said that Delhi Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the authors of a “toolkit to aid farmers” that was shared by several people on social media, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, clarifying, however, that it did not “name anybody”. Earlier today, several Indian media outlets reported that Delhi …

WUHAN: World Health Organisation inspectors on Wednesday visited a laboratory in China’s Wuhan city at the heart of a controversial theory that it could have been the source of the coronavirus. The inspection of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducts research on the world’s most dangerous diseases, will be one of the most-watched stops on the team’s probe into …

The United Nation’s top court has said it can hear Iran’s bid to overturn United States nuclear sanctions reimposed by former president Donald Trump, prompting “disappointment” in Washington, which had argued the issue lies outside its jurisdiction. Iran’s foreign minister swiftly hailed Wednesday’s decision as a “victory” in the case launched three years ago at the International Court of Justice …

Myanmar’s generals ordered internet providers to restrict access to Facebook on Thursday, as UN chief Antonio Guterres said the world must rally to ensure the military coup fails. The Southeast Asian nation was plunged back into direct military rule on Monday as de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders were detained in a series of dawn raids, ending …

Looking to liven up your Saturday night without having to worry about Covid and SOPs? This Saturday, celebrated French DJ David Guetta will stream a concert from the helipad of the world’s only seven-star luxury hotel, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and you can watch it for free. The performance — without fans in attendance — from Dubai’s iconic …