Author: News Desk

Thousands of Greek protesters rallied in central Athens on Thursday against government plans to regulate frequent street demonstrations which often cause disruption in the city. Street protests are the main form of opposition against government policies in Greece, a country still recovering from a deep socioeconomic crisis that erupted in late 2009 and led to three international bailouts on tough austerity terms. As many as 3,500 members and supporters of Greece’s communist party gathered in central Syntagma square to protest legislation now pending in parliament and which is expected to be put to the vote next week. Demonstrators held banners…

Botswana is investigating a growing number of unexplained deaths of elephants, having confirmed 275 had died, up from 154 two weeks ago, the government said on Thursday. The dead elephants were first spotted months ago in the Okavango Panhandle region, and the authorities say they have since been trying to discover the cause. Poaching has been ruled out as the cause of death, as the carcasses were found intact. “Three laboratories in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Canada have been identified to process the samples taken from the dead elephants,” the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism said in…

Boris Johnson’s father has travelled to Greece to prepare his second home as a holiday let despite strict Foreign Office advice against all but essential international travel. Stanley Johnson posted on his public Instagram page on Wednesday evening wearing a face mask in an airport queue and boasted of arriving in Athens in a separate post to his 140,000 followers. Due to Greece extending its ban on flights arriving in the country from the UK until the middle of July, the prime minister’s father was reported to have travelled to the country’s capital via Bulgaria. The Foreign Office still advises British citizens against all but essential…

UAE records 400 cases, and 1 fatality from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total cases in the country to 49,469, as the country reopened the mosques with a 30 percent limit on worshippers. The new death takes the total fatalities to 317. The new cases were found after conducting more than 56,000 coronavirus tests across the country. Also, the country has conducted over 3.5 million exams nationwide, using the best and latest technologies. Meanwhile, 504 new recoveries were also announced, bringing the total recoveries to 38,664. This means that over 77 percent of the confirmed cases have fully…

Saudi Arabia is extending some private sector stimulus measures that would have expired this month, with the government saying it’s keen to support businesses that are struggling to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Among the initiatives extended is a pledge to cover 60% of some Saudi salaries in the private sector through a government unemployment insurance program called Saned. The announcement came the day after the kingdom implemented a tripling of its value added tax to 15%, a measure that many economists expect to hurt businesses and consumption. Facing a double crisis from the pandemic and oil market…

Florida shattered records on Thursday when it reported over 10,000 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase in the state since the pandemic started, according to a Reuters tally. Outbreaks in Texas, California, Florida and Arizona have helped the United States break records and send cases rising at rates not seen since April. In June, Florida infections rose by 168% or over 95,000 new cases. The percent of tests coming back positive has skyrocketed to 15% from 4% at the end of May. Florida, with 21 million residents, has reported more new daily coronavirus cases than any European country had…

Oman’s health minister said on Thursday that the sultanate had witnessed a “scary” surge in COVID-19 cases that required boosting hospital capacity, especially for intensive care units. The country reported another 1,361 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday and three deaths in the last 24 hours, to take its total count to 42,555 cases with 188 deaths. “In the last six weeks there has been a radical change which is very disturbing and scary,” minister Ahmed bin al-Saeedi told a news briefing. He blamed individuals who did not wear masks or practice social distancing and said some employees were…

The U.S. economy created jobs at a record clip in June as more restaurants and bars resumed operations, further evidence that the COVID-19 recession was probably over, though a surge in cases of the coronavirus threatens the fledgling recovery. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 4.8 million jobs in June, the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment showed on Thursday. That was the most since the government started keeping records in 1939. Payrolls rebounded 2.699 million in May. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls increasing by 3 million jobs in June. The job gains added to a stream of data, including…

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, affirmed the Kingdom’s appreciation of the continuous efforts exerted by the United States of America to preserve the security and stability of the countries of the region and defend their interests, highlighting the efforts of the US Navy in protecting international trade and navigation routes in the Arabian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab. This came during a press conference held by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Senior Advisor to Secretary of State, Brian Hook، who is on an official…

Kuwait has reported 919 new coronavirus cases, of which 549 are citizens, taking the total confirmed cases in the country to 47,859, according to the Ministry of Health. 1 patient died of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 359. 675 new recoveries have been reported in the country, raising the total recoveries to 38,390. Kuwait has done 4,312 NP swab tests in the past 24 hours, as the country ramps up its efforts to test more people and detect cases early, according to the health ministry. So far, the country has conducted…