South Africa

UK ex-PM Boris Johnson apologizes again over Partygate scandal

24 Mar 2023 01:24 AM IST

Boris Johnson has once again apologised over the Partygate scandal, this time for “inadvertently misleading” the British Parliament over the COVID law-breaking parties at Downing Street during his time as prime minister. Johnson was grilled for hours on Wednesday by the House of Commons Privileges Committee, which is investigating whether

Pro-Union? President Biden aims to prove it with unionized 2024 staff

24 Mar 2023 01:22 AM IST

Joe Biden likes to say he’s the most pro-union president in US history. When he announces his expected re-election campaign in the coming weeks, he’ll get the chance to prove it to his own staffers. Workers on his 2024 campaign will be unionised, political allies say, making him the first

Saudi Arabia refuses ‘easy money’ to Pakistan, seeks economic reforms

24 Mar 2023 01:21 AM IST

Saudi Arabia is no longer willing to bail out Islamabad and refused to provide ‘easy money’ to Pakistan, demanding economic reforms, reported Middle East Eye. Pakistan is in dire need of sustained US dollar inflows to avoid defaulting on nearly USD 80 billion of international loan repayments over the next

China introduces new power structure to tighten control on data, tech, finance

24 Mar 2023 01:18 AM IST

China, with around 1 billion internet users and a vast surveillance network, is fast becoming the biggest part of the “datasphere.” One projection by Seagate a few years ago estimated the nation’s annual data generation would reach 48.6 Zettabyte (ZB) by 2025, or nearly 28 per cent of the global

Israel passes law protecting Netanyahu

24 Mar 2023 00:38 AM IST

srael’s parliament on Thursday passed the first of several laws that make up its contentious judicial overhaul as protesters opposing the changes staged another day of demonstrations aimed at ringing an alarm over what they see as the country’s descent toward autocracy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition approved legislation that

Credit Suisse deal halted crisis, says Swiss National Bank

24 Mar 2023 00:37 AM IST

The Swiss central bank hiked its key interest rate on Thursday and insisted that a government-orchestrated takeover of troubled Credit Suisse by rival bank UBS ended the financial turmoil. In a statement, the Swiss National Bank said it’s providing large amounts of support in Swiss francs and foreign currencies and

PM Sunak reveals tax returns paid over GBP 1 million since 2019

24 Mar 2023 00:36 AM IST

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has released his tax returns, revealing that the British-Indian leader paid more than GBP 1 million to the Exchequer since becoming a frontline politician in 2019.The tax release is part of a transparency commitment the UK premier made in November last year. Sunak, among the wealthiest

UK training Ukrainian soldiers even as war with Russia rages on

24 Mar 2023 00:34 AM IST

The United Kingdom is imparting basic infantry skills to Ukrainian soldiers at four locations in the country. The country aims for 20,000 personnel by the year-end. The UK has already trained 10,000 newly recruited Ukrainian soldiers since June 27 last year. Major Trucker Middleton Officer Commanding the UK training team

California reports over 120,000 power outages after rain, hurricane

24 Mar 2023 00:33 AM IST

More than 120,000 California homes and businesses were without power Wednesday morning after another atmospheric river walloped the storm-fatigued state with heavy rain and hurricane-force winds, CNN reported. The storm’s ferocious winds downed trees and damaged power lines across California, where at some point on Tuesday most of the state’s

China forcing Bangladesh into unviable Teesta project

24 Mar 2023 00:32 AM IST

China is trying to thrust on Bangladesh a project for comprehensive restoration of river Teesta and management of the river basin that is unviable and likely to do serious damage to the environment of Bangladesh in the long run. Dhaka is naturally reluctant to implement it and has so far

Indian stocks decline on US central bank’s continued interest rate hike

23 Mar 2023 10:56 AM IST

Indian stocks fell Thursday during the morning trade in line with weakness in the US markets, which declined sharply overnight as the US Federal Reserve went ahead with its further monetary policy tightening to bring down inflation to its target even as volatility in the banking system continued due to

Ajay Banga heads to India for final stop on global tour

23 Mar 2023 09:31 AM IST

The US nominee for World Bank President Ajay Banga will visit New Delhi, India on 23 and 24 March, capping a three-week global listening tour that began in Africa before progressing to Europe, and Latin America, and Asia. While in India, Banga will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as