Author: News Desk

The death of a giant panda in a Thai zoo has led to an outpouring of grief and anger in China, prompting Beijing’s decision to dispatch a team of experts to investigate the unexpected demise of the animal. Native to China, the life expectancy of a giant panda, a type of bear, is between 25 years to 30 years. The deceased, a male panda named Chuang Chuang, however, was 19. The cause of his death has not been made public. He died at a zoo in Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand and his death was announced by…

Paris is testing out a new form of travel: an eco-friendly bubble-shaped taxi that zips along the water up and down the Seine River. Organizers are holding test runs this week on the white, oval-shaped electric hydrofoil boats that resemble tiny space shuttles gliding past Paris monuments. They can fit four passengers, and if they get approved, they can be ordered on an app like land taxis, shared bikes or other forms of transport. Its designers hope to run the so-called Seabubbles commercially in Paris and other cities starting next year. Proponents see the vehicle as a new model for…

A US Drug Enforcement Administration agent accused late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez of cooperating with Colombian rebel group FARC to ease the shipment of cocaine into the United States, a Spanish court ruling published Tuesday showed. The accusation was cited in a ruling by Spain’s National Court, the country’s top criminal court, rejecting a US request to extradite Venezuela’s former military intelligence chief, General Hugo Armando Carvajal, on drug trafficking charges. The ruling includes a sworn statement from an agent from a DEA agent that was included as evidence to back the extradition request. In it, he refers to Carvajal…

It seems this love was too hot to handle. Police in Lincoln says a 19-year-old woman sparked an apartment fire Monday by burning love letters from her ex in her bedroom. Police say the woman used a butane torch to burn the letters and left some of them off the floor. She then went to another room to take a nap. Police say she awoke a short time later to find the carpet on fire. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within minutes. Officials say the fire caused an estimated $4,000 in damage to the building. No one was…

India beat South Africa by seven wickets in the second T20 International here on Wednesday. Virat Kohli’s Indian T20 team has beaten South Africa by 7 wickets in the second T20I at Mohali to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series. This is India’s first-ever T20I victory over South Africa on home soil and the skipper’s unbeaten 72 helped the team achieve this feat with an over to spare. Scores South Africa: 149 for 5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 52, Temba Bavuma 49; Deepak Chahar 2/22). India: 151 for 3 in 19 overs (Virat Kohli 72 not…

Saudi Arabia has ramped up the pressure on Donald Trump to respond to a devastating strike on two major oil installations, by displaying drone and missile technology it insisted showed the attack was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran”. A Saudi defense spokesman at a high-profile press conference claimed that a total of 25 drones and cruise missiles were used in the attack on the Aramco facilities on Saturday, saying repeatedly they had been fired from the north, the direction of Iran. Lt Col Turki al-Maliki said Saudi Arabia was still working to identify the precise launch point of the attack but claimed the debris…

The Ministry of Education will hire Saudi women drivers to transport school students, according to Ibtisam Al-Shehri, spokesperson of the ministry. “There is no provision in the contract, specifying the gender of the drivers whether they are men or women. This enables transport contractors to hire those women who fulfill the required terms and conditions to work as school bus drivers,” she said. Al-Shehri said that the terms and conditions include the age between 30 and 60, holder of public driving license, a certificate showing no criminal background, passing a medical test, in addition to intensive training courses in safe driving of…

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed an executive order on Tuesday with a goal of producing all of the state’s electricity from carbon-free sources by 2050 in an effort to reduce the commonwealth’s impact on climate change: The order has an interim target of producing 30% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. With the order, Virginia joins several other states that have already set 100% clean energy goals, including Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Maine, New York, and Washington State, according to Environment America, an environmental group advocating the country produce all of its energy from clean, renewable energy.…

The United States believes the attacks that crippled Saudi Arabian oil facilities last weekend originated in southwestern Iran, a U.S. official told on Tuesday, an assessment that further increases tension in the Middle East. Three officials said the attacks involved both cruise missiles and drones, indicating that they involved a higher degree of complexity and sophistication than initially thought. The officials did not provide evidence or explain what U.S. intelligence they were using for the evaluations. Such intelligence, if shared publicly, could further pressure Washington, Riyadh, and others to respond, perhaps even militarily. Iran denies involvement in the strikes. Iran’s…

Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Tuesday detained former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha at the Srinagar airport for more than five hours before sending him back to Delhi by the last available flight. Three other members of the pressure group which calls itself ‘Concerned Citizens Group’ were allowed to enter the city — Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Ka (retired), journalist Bharat Bhushan and Ms. Sushobha Barve, executive program director of Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation. The fifth member of the group, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah was not among the visitors. It is reported that he was in the Valley on…