World News
World news, global politics, business, technology, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, international trends, and major events. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for global news.
-
Kashmir: Why is anger rising over secretive militant burials?
Mushtaq Ahmad Wani cried out for public support after Indian security forces refused to return the body of his teenage son, who was killed in a controversial operation on the outskirts of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. “Today it’s about my son. Tomorrow it will be your son as well,” Wani shouted while he was being taken away by Indian police…
-
Pfizer CEO says new version of vaccine under development to target Omicron
Pfizer has reportedly begun developing a new version to combat the Omicron and the tests have been running since last Friday, according to CEO Albery Bourla yesterday, following the warning from the World Health Organisation on the new variant. While Bourla says he doesn’t “believe the immunisations will fail to protect,” he says a study could the study could reveal that…
-
Taiwanese co-pilot pays off NT$800,000 fine for breaching quarantine rules
According to the Taipei branch of the Administrative Enforcement Agency (AEA), a co-pilot of a Taiwanese airline has paid off a punishment of NT$ 800,000 (US$ 28,551) for breaching of Covid-19 quarantine rules earlier this year. The co-pilot, identified in the media as Chung, was found to have left his home three times to visit friends and buy food while…
-
Shanghai halts 500 flights, issues closure order after 3 three local Covid cases
After three locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases were reported in Shanghai on Friday, hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools were closed, and tourists activities were shut down. The three positive cases, according to a municipal government statement, were friends from the nearby city of Suzhou who attended an old architecture lecture last week. The three friends had close contact with nearly 200…
-
Indonesian Paralympic powerlifter says no disability can destroy a dream
Indonesian para-athlete Ni Nengah Widiasih was partially paralyzed by polio as a child. At the 2020 Paralympics, she won a silver medal for weightlifting. She says when you dream big and try hard nothing can stop you. SOURCE: DW News
-
Verdicts in Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi trial postponed until Monday
According to a source acquainted with the proceedings in Myanmar, the first verdicts in the trial of former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi were adjourned to Monday by a court under the military junta. The court was set to rule on allegations of incitement and violations of Covid-19 guidelines under a natural disaster law today, one of nearly a…
-
COVID: South Korean cities grapple with cab shortage
Han Ye-jung could always count on an available taxi to bring her home, after working late into the night at her company’s office in central Seoul. However, that has changed since the start of the pandemic. At present, flagging down a taxi requires good luck or a test of endurance, Han told DW. A shortage of cabs in South Korea’s…
-
Why are Russian ‘vaccine tourists’ flocking to Europe?
It’s unclear whether the Russian homegrown vaccine Sputnik V will be approved anytime soon in the West, making life difficult for many Russian nationals. That’s because entry to many countries requires proof of vaccination against COVID-19 with a jab that is approved in the European Union (EU). It’s not only tourists who are affected. Many Russian citizens also travel abroad,…
-
Gambia election: President Barrow’s candidacy splits youth vote
On December 4, Gambian voters will head to the polls to elect a new president. The election will mark the first time voters decide since the electoral defeat of former president Yahya Jammeh in 2016 ended his 22-year dictatorship. Saturday’s vote will likely set the course for democratic governance in the Gambia for the years to come. The stakes are…
-
Asia-Europe summit: Is the EU gaining more ground in Indo-Pacific?
European leaders are renewing calls to strengthen diplomatic relations with Indo-Pacific countries, amid geopolitical challenges posed by China and changes to trans-Atlantic relations brought on during the Trump era. At last week’s 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stressed that “Asia matters to Europe.” During the two-day virtual conference, leaders from the…
-
Meeting near Russian border, NATO weighs response to Moscow’s military maneuvers
“We’re the ones that keep other people awake at night”: That’s the impact US Marine Corps Brigadier General Simon Doran hopes this massive show of NATO power has on Russian military planners plotting their next moves. Doran is the senior American representative serving with the UK’s Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21), the largest fifth-generation carrier air wing in the world.…
-
Japan suspends foreign visitors from entering as Omicron variant spreads
Japan is suspending foreign visitors from entering as the new Covid-19 Omicron variant spreads throughout the country. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says the measure will take effect tomorrow. “We are taking the step as an emergency precaution to prevent a worst-case scenario in Japan.” The move means the country will backstep in restoring its border controls that eased earlier this…
-
Netherlands: 13 omicron cases found from South Africa flight
TheDutchpublic health authority said on Sunday that 13 people in the Netherlands have so far tested positive for the new omicron coronavirus variant. There were 61 positive COVID cases on a flight from South Africa which landed on Friday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, with 13 of them contracting the new variant. The people who tested positive are being kept in…
-
UPDATE: Israel bans ALL foreign entry over Omicron
Israel is the first country to impose a blanket ban on all foreigners from entering the country for at least 14 days. In a statement to parliament, Israeli PM Naftali Bennett says the ban, pending government approval, would last for 14 days. Meanwhile, the South African doctor who was the first to sound an international alarm over the new Omicron…
-
UPDATE: Latest news on Omicron – what we know
World travel destinations are moving to block flights from up to 10 African countries following the discovery of the Omicron Covid-19 variant this week. Officially, the new variant is designated B1.1.529. This is the latest information about the current status on Omicron. The new Covid-19 mutation was first reported to the World Health Organisation on Wednesday this week, by scientists from…
-
Will Iraqi Kurdistan’s youth turn to religious extremism next?
Over the past few days, there has been yet another indicator of how dissatisfied the people of Iraqi Kurdistan are with their leaders. Thousands of demonstrators, many of them students, took to the streets in the semi-autonomous northern Iraqi region to demand the restoration of financial stipends local authorities stopped paying around 2014. During the protests, security forces used a…
-
Omicron causing concern, Thai authorities ban travellers from 8 countries
Countries around the world are pushing back against the latest strain of Covid-19, now officially called by its Greek alphabet name ‘Omicron’, or B.1.1.529 if you want to be scientific. Potentially, the new variant is more a transmissible coronavirus and was first recognised by South African health authorities. Now, a number of countries are already banning travellers from several southern…
-
New Covid-19 strain named “Omicron” and a variant of concern
Omicron is the new Covid-19 to watch out for, having just received its Greek name and the highest category of classification, “variant of concern”. The B.1.1.529 strain, recently uncovered in southern Africa and already seeing some spread, was given the Omicron name and classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation yesterday. From least worrisome to most…
-
“Omicron” – a new Covid variant triggers travel alarms as flights disrupted
A reminder today that there is still more steam left in the Covid-19 coronavirus. Just as the world started to peek from behind the curtain of uncertainty, another Covid “variant of concern”, named Omicron, has been discovered. The World Health Organisation says Omicron has a large number of mutations, and early evidence suggests an “increased reinfection risk”. Officially, it is…
-
Nuclear power in Hungary: Green, cheap and independent?
While Germany is phasing out nuclear power and many EU states don’t have any atomic plants at all, others are expanding their nuclear programs as part of the fight against climate change. These states argue that atomic energy is low in CO2 emissions and allows them to produce cheap electricity and be more energy-independent. But can nuclear power really lead…
-
Germany’s new Africa policy holds few surprises
The word “Africa” only appears four times in the coalition deal unveiled this week by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP), which will form Germany’s next government. That’s considerably less than 15 times “Africa” appeared in the coalition treaty between the previous government of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the SPD,…
-
Bangladesh’s BNP opposition party in dire straits as leader’s health deteriorates
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister and arch-rivalof current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was admitted to the critical care unit of a Dhaka hospital early this month after her health deteriorated. The 76-year old former prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been suffering from several chronic and life-threatening diseases. “She has chronic liver disease,…
-
What next for migrants stuck in Belarus?
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has called on Germany to accept migrants, a move Berlin says it has rejected. The EU is exploring possible repatriations. Meanwhile, concerns are mounting about a COVID outbreak. SOURCE: DW News
-
Desperate to hire nurses, hospitals and clinics in Singapore offer “finder’s fee”
As the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the healthcare system in Singapore, the demand for nurses grows even as many have quit their jobs due to higher levels of stress and long hours duty to deal with the patients. For the first time in more than two decades, the number of nurses working in Singapore decreased in 2020 and the situation…
-
Cambodia authorities seize large shipment of cocaine from boat by Laos border
Cambodian officials in Koh Lung’s Stung Treng province managed to stop a boat carrying cocaine from Laos to their territory at 7pm Wednesday. Border police searched the vessel and found 10 sacks containing 170 packs of cocaine. Reports in local media do not clarify how many kilograms each pack weighs. According to the Stung Treng Provincial Police Commissioner, Ot Sivutha,…
-
Pakistani artists concerned about Turkish actors taking away their roles
Pakistani businesses and brands are increasingly opting for Turkish artists in their commercials, heightening anxiety among local actors. SOURCE: DW News
-
Vietnam urges to give third doses of Covid-19 vaccine
Vietnam’s Ministry of Health is urging local governments to accelerate giving out a third dosage of Covid-19 vaccines, prioritising people over 50 years old despite a recent spike in the Mekong Delta region with approximately 4,000 new infections per day. The MoH said 135.15 million of the 136 million vaccination doses received by Vietnam were distributed to various localities, which…
-
World’s largest Ikea store opens in Philippines
The Swedish ready-to-take furniture giant has made its first appearance in Manila, Philippines by opening its largest store in the world, with a new 730,000-square-foot facility that includes a 2-story, 270,000-square-foot store, dining area, and showroom, as well as warehouses, an e-commerce centre, and a call centre. The opening ceremony of Ikea Pasay City was held at the store’s restaurant…
-
Foreign Minister says visit to Myanmar was to oversee humanitarian aid delivery
The Foreign Minister has responded to questions about his visit to Myanmar by saying he was overseeing the delivery of humanitarian aid. Don Pramudwinai’s November 14 trip has been criticised by some as potentially legitimising the military leaders who overthrew the country’s democratically-elected government in February. Addressing the House of Representatives yesterday, Don said he went to the country purely…
-
Foreign Minister shrugs off lack of invite to democracy summit
Thailand’s Foreign Minister has shrugged off the fact that Thailand has not been invited to a democracy summit being hosted by the US. Thai PBS World reports that Don Pramudwinai says the event is, “nothing more than pure politics”. The summit is scheduled to take place from December 9-10 and Thailand has been left off the guest list. Controversially, Taiwan…
Broke? Find employment in Southeast Asia with JobCute Thailand and SmartJob Indonesia. Rich? Invest in real estate across Asia with FazWaz Property Group or get out on a yacht anywhere with Boatcrowd. Even book medical procedures worldwide with MyMediTravel, all powered by DB Ventures.