World

PRAGUE: The Czech Ministry of Agriculture on Monday confirmed the second outbreak of avian influenza this year in the central Czech region of Pardubice.

LONDON: Flights are continuing to be disrupted at Heathrow Airport on Monday due to a massive technical failure of the system handling check-in and flight information in all four passenger terminals.

BEIJING: Chinese health authority on Tuesday said it received reports of 1,886 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 98 deaths on Monday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

QUETTA: At least seven persons were killed and 21 injured in an explosion in the city on Monday, a media report quoted Balochistan government spokesman Liaqat Shahwani as saying.

NEW DELHI: An excerpt of the Novel "The Eyes of Darkness", a 1981 thriller by bestselling suspense author Dean Koontz is revolving around the social media which tells of a Chinese military lab that creates a virus as part of its biological weapons programme.

NEW YORK:Journalism is an 'attack surface' for those media consumers and journalists who may sometimes unwittingly amplify bad information, say researchers.

AGRA:The dry and polluted river Yamuna at the rear of the Taj Mahal is the biggest concern for the Uttar Pradesh administration engaged in organising a grand welcome to US President Donald Trump, his wife Melania and delegation members who will arrive at the Kheria airport on February 24.

SYDNEY:An Australian court on Monday dismissed a legal bid by public broadcaster ABC to have a raid by the Australian Federal Police at its Sydney offices in June last year declared invalid.

NEW YORK:Researchers have found that Lansoprazole, an over-the-counter acid reflux drug that is often taken by pregnant women, may be a promising therapy to reduce preterm birth.

WASHINGTON: The US has announced that it will evacuate American citizens trapped aboard the coronavirus-hit quarantined cruise ship, Diamond Princess off the coast of Yokohama in Japan.

PORT-AU-PRINCE:At least 15 children were killed in a fire at a Haiti orphanage run by a US-based Christian non-profit group, authorities said.

KABUL:At least eight civilians, including a child, have been killed in an airstrike that targeted Taliban militants in Afghanistan, government officials said on Saturday, amid a breakthrough in peace talks between the US and the insurgent group.

CAIRO: Egypt has reported the country's first coronavirus case, which is also the first in the African continent, the country's Health Ministry announced in a joint statement with the WHO.

CHENNAI:Indian port authorities have decided not to allow the disembarkation of crew of ships from China, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore, to avoid the spreading of the deadly coronavirus, said an official.

BRUSSELS:The US and the Taliban have negotiated a proposal for a seven-day reduction in violence in Afghanistan, said American Defence Secretary Mark Esper.

COLOMBO:The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved the extension of the free-visa scheme to nationals of 48 countries, including India, until April 30 as the tourism sector, which was picking up after the 2019 Easter terror attacks, took another hit due to the coronavirus outbreak, it was reported on Friday.

NEW DELHI:Indian-origin Alok Sharma, who was named the UK's new Minister to lead the crucial UN climate talks, has immense challenges and pressure ahead and this is the first real test post-Brexit, climate experts said on Friday.

HONG KONG:The epicentre of the outbreak, Hubei province in China is now changing the way it counts coronavirus infected persons which led to total cases jumping by almost 15,000 on Thursday.

MUMBAI:Delays of several years by India and Pakistan in the Nationality Verification process of the two countries' fisherfolk arrested by each other, leads to prolonged jail stay on both sides, which activists have termed as 'inhuman torture'.

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan Prime Minis­ter Imran Khan has directed the Foreign Office (FO) to take every possible step to help Pakistani students stuck in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak.