Author: News Desk

Berlin : Germany’s federal election is too close to call as the number of still undecided voters hit a record high less than two weeks before the poll, in which centre-right Chancellor Angela Merkel is not seeking a fifth term, a survey showed on Tuesday. The survey by the Allensbach research institute for the conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung found that only 60% of voters who are determined to participate in the election have yet decided which party they will support, reports Reuters. This means that 40% of the voters are still undecided, up from 35% at this point of…

London : The U.K. announced Tuesday it will offer a third dose of coronavirus vaccine to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people to help the country ride out the pandemic through the winter months. The booster shots, which will be rolled out beginning next week, were approved a day after the Conservative government also backed plans to offer one vaccine dose to children 12 to 15 years old, reports AP. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, which advises the government, recommended that booster shots be offered to everyone over 50, health care workers, people with underlying health conditions…

The International Trade Secretary called for an end to ‘outdated attitudes’ as she outlined the post-Brexit trade strategy. Some businesses and government employees remain “defensive” about trade as a result of the UK spending nearly 50 years in the European Union, the International Trade Secretary has said. In a speech on Tuesday Liz Truss set out how the UK’s post-Brexit trade strategy will be increasingly about attempting to secure business with eastern growth markets in India and elsewhere. “In order to get those opportunities, we do have to jettison some of our outdated assumptions and attitudes,” she added. When later…

Booster COVID-19 jabs will be offered to people aged 50 and over, those in care homes, and frontline health and social care workers, the British government announced Tuesday. Britain’s vaccine advisory body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said a third dose should not be given until six months after a person has received a second shot. “I can confirm I’ve accepted the JCVI’s advice and the NHS (National Health Service) is preparing to offer booster doses from next week,” British Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons, lower house of the British parliament. He also…

Washington  : Just eight days after the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump was so determined to end the war in Afghanistan during his presidency that he secretly signed a memo to withdraw all troops by January 15, 2021, according to a new book, “Peril,” from journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The November 11 memo, according to the authors, had been secretly drafted by two Trump loyalists and never went through the normal process for a military directive — the secretary of defense, national security adviser and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs had all never seen it. Unpredictable, impulsive, Trump…

China : China’s ambassador to the UK has been barred from Parliament after British lawmakers sanctioned by the regime expressed outrage over his scheduled visit. Zheng Zeguang was invited to a House of Commons reception on Wednesday, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on China, The Telegraph reported. But he has now been banned from setting foot in Parliament after the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament intervened. The Chinese regime imposed sanctions on nine British individuals—including politicians, lawyers, and an academic—in retaliation for UK sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for the alleged abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Among the sanctioned were five Conservative MPs—Tom…

Apple is launching a new-look iPhone 13 with diagonally aligned cameras and what it says is a 20% smaller notch in the front. This September’s launch event featured far less than the company announced last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to three separate special events to announce a range of products. But retained from last year’s iPhone 12 launch, was Apple’s commitment to launching four devices, with an iPhone 13 and an iPhone 13 mini, alongside the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max announced today. Apple, which remains the most valuable company in the world, has seen its share price…

New local COVID-19 infections more than doubled in China’s southeastern province of Fujian, health authorities said on Tuesday, prompting officials to quickly roll out measures including travel restrictions to halt the spread of the virus. The National Health Commission said 59 new locally transmitted cases were reported for Sept. 13, up from 22 infections a day earlier. All of them were in Fujian, a province bordered by Zhejiang to the north and Guangdong to the south. In just four days, a total of 102 community infections have been reported in three Fujian cities, including Xiamen, a tourist and transport hub…

The European Union has no option but to talk to Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers and Brussels will try to coordinate with member governments to organise a diplomatic presence in Kabul, the top EU diplomat said on Tuesday. “The Afghan crisis is not over,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “To have any chance of influencing events, we have no other option but to engage with the Taliban.” EU foreign ministers have set conditions for re-establishing humanitarian aid and diplomatic ties with the Taliban, who took control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, including respect for…

The Taliban have denied that one of their top leaders has been killed in a shootout with rivals, following rumours about internal splits in the movement nearly a month after its lightning victory over the Western-backed government in Kabul. Sulail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, former head of the Taliban political office who was named deputy prime minister last week, issued a voice message rejecting claims he had been killed or injured in a clash. “He says it is lies and totally baseless,” Shaheen said in a message on Twitter. The Taliban also released video footage…