Author: News Desk

India : Tens of thousands of Hindus, led by heads of monasteries and ash-smeared ascetics, waded into the frigid waters of the Ganges River in northern India on Friday despite rising Covid-19 infections in the country. Hindu pilgrims congregated at the Sangam, the confluence of three rivers — the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Saraswati — in Prayagraj city, 200 kilometres north-east of Lucknow, state capital of Uttar Pradesh, to participate in the Magh Mela festival, one of the most sacred pilgrimages in Hinduism. They bathed in the Ganges waters, a ritual Hindus believe will wash away their sins and free them…

Berlin :  The risk of recession is looming for Germany after Europe’s biggest economy shrank at the end of 2021 and as it faces a bumpy start to this year, with the rapid spread of COVID-19′s omicron variant deterring people from shopping and travel and supply bottlenecks holding back manufacturers. Output in Germany fell by between 0.5% and 1% in the fourth quarter, the state statistics agency Destatis said Friday. Forecasts are also shaky for the first three months of 2022, and two straight quarters of falling output would leave Germany in recession, according to one commonly used definition. Germany…

Bahrain : The Board of Trustees of the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence held its first periodic meeting for this year under the chairmanship of Dr. Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa. The online meeting convened in the presence of the board’s Deputy Chairpersons, members and Secretary General. At the outset of the meeting, Dr. Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa extended most sincere congratulations to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Supreme Commander, and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Prime Minister, on the…

Hong Kong:  Hong Kong International Airport said Friday that it would ban passengers from over 150 countries and territories from transiting in the city for a month, as it sought to stem the transmission of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. Passengers who have stayed in over 150 places deemed “high risk” in the last 21 days, including the United States and Britain, will be banned from transiting in Hong Kong from Jan. 16 to Feb. 15, according to a notice posted by the airport. The ban comes as the city grapples with an omicron outbreak, with most…

Melbourne :  Tennis star Novak Djokovic faces deportation again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time, reports AP. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said Friday he used his ministerial discretion to revoke the 34-year-old Serb’s visa on public interest grounds three days before the Australian Open is to begin. Djokovic’s lawyers are expected to appeal the cancellation in the Federal Circuit and Family Court as they successfully did after the first cancellation. Hawke said he cancelled the visa on “health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.”…

Kuwait :  A fire broke out at a gas liquefaction unit at Al-Ahmadi Refinery on Friday, the National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC) said. The blaze that erupted at unit 32 for gas liquefaction, affiliated to the KNPC, was put out, the KNPC said on its Twitter account, noting that the unit was out of service due to maintenance. The corporation added that it activated the emergency plan immediately when the fire started, adding that ten persons were injured with the blazes. Seven of the injured were transported to Al-Adan Hospital. Five of them suffered severe and medium burns. Operations, namely the…

Washington :  President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to “surge” resources to help the country weather the spike in coronavirus cases. Biden also announced that starting next week 1,000 military medical personnel will begin deploying across the country to help overwhelmed medical facilities ease staff shortages due to the highly transmissible omicron variant. Many facilities are struggling because their workers are in at-home quarantines due to the virus at the…

New Delhi :  Rescuers found four bodies overnight as they cleared the 12 mangled coaches of a train that derailed in India’s West Bengal state, raising the death toll to nine, a railroad official said Friday. At least 45 people were injured in the accident on Thursday as the coaches went off the rails and three capsized, said Rajiv Jain, a railroad ministry spokesman. The rescue work was completed and the track was being cleared to restore train services in the region, Jain said. The train was on its way to Gauhati in Assam state from Bikaner, a city in…

Beijing :  China’s global trade surplus surged to $676.4 billion in 2021, likely the highest ever for any country, as exports jumped 29.9% over a year earlier despite semiconductor shortages that disrupted manufacturing. The country’s monthly trade surplus in December swelled 20.8% over a year earlier to a record $94.4 billion, customs data showed Friday. China piled up a series of monthly export surpluses in 2021 but they prompted less criticism from the United States and other trading partners than in earlier years while their governments focused on containing coronavirus infections. Exports rose to $3.3 trillion in 2021 despite shortages…

Dallas :  A single page of artwork from a 1984 Spider-Man comic book sold at auction  for a record $3.36 million. Mike Zeck’s artwork for page 25 from Marvel Comics’ “Secret Wars No. 8” brings the first appearance of Spidey’s black suit. The symbiote suit would eventually lead to the emergence of the character Venom. The record bidding, which started at $330,000 and soared past $3 million, came on the first day of Heritage Auctions’ four-day comic event in Dallas. The previous record for an interior page of a U.S. comic book was $657,250 for art from a 1974 issue…