NEW YORK: Stocks across the world hit their lowest in seven weeks and other risk assets sold off on Monday on lingering concern over renewed lockdown measures in Europe and the UK, as well as the United States’ inability to agree on a stimulus for millions of unemployed. Oil prices fell about 5 per cent, the dollar rallied and an …

SYDNEY: At least twenty-five whales have died and scientists are trying to rescue 250 more that are stranded in a remote bay on the Australian island of Tasmania, officials said on Monday. Tasmania’s environment department said the whales had become stuck on a sandbar in Macquarie Harbour, on the island’s rugged and sparsely populated west coast. Nic Deka, who is …

LONDON: Prone to frequent flying, a passion for SUVs and big spending, the richest one per cent of the world’s population produced twice as many planet-heating emissions as the poorest half of humanity over the last quarter-century, researchers said on Monday. That excessive consumption has left little room in the world’s “carbon budget” for poorer countries to grow without pushing …

NEW DELHI: Eight Indian lawmakers were suspended from parliament on Monday for “unruly behaviour” after opposition to contentious new farming legislation sparked some of the most chaotic scenes in recent years. MPs in the upper house had on Sunday torn up copies of the legislation, broken microphones, hurled copies of the parliamentary rulebook and staged a sit-in protest once proceedings …

AGRA: India’s famed Taj Mahal and some schools reopened on Monday as authorities pressed ahead with kickstarting the nation’s coronavirus-battered economy despite soaring infection numbers. India, home to 1.3 billion people and some of the world’s most crowded cities, has recorded more than 5.4 million Covid-19 cases, second only to the United States which it could overtake soon. But after …

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Monday he will announce his nominee for the empty Supreme Court seat at the end of this week, kickstarting a political fight set to upend the already nail-biting US election. “I will announce it either Friday or Saturday and then the work begins, but hopefully it won’t be too much work,” Trump said in …

KANDAHAR: At least 14 Afghan soldiers and police were killed during intense fighting with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday, as unabated violence gripped the country despite ongoing peace talks. Taliban fighters launched an overnight assault late on Sunday on several Afghan security force positions in the southern province of Uruzgan, inflicting a heavy toll that left …

ISLAMABAD: The people of Pakistan were keenly looking forward to welcoming President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Imran Khan said during a meeting with the Chinese ambassador, who paid a farewell call on him on Monday. The prime minister praised the Chinese leadership for bringing about a socio-economic transformation, saying there was a lot to learn from Beijing’s efforts for banishing …

UNITED NATIONS: Fore­ign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has alerted the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir that India has intensified its belligerent rhetoric against Pakistan, including threats of military aggression. The OIC Contact Group met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday to discuss the worsening human rights situation in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Saudi …

RAWALPINDI: The Government of Iraq has revoked the permission granted to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to operate special flights to Najaf and Baghdad for people intending to observe Arbaeen. The special permission was revoked due to the spread of Covid-19. A PIA spokesman said the schedule of the special flight operation to Najaf and Baghdad had been finalised from Karachi, …